The greening of pharmaceutical engineering. Volume 3, Applications for mental disorder treatments 9781119183815, 1119183812, 9781119183839, 1119183839, 978-1-119-18376-1

Table of contents :
Content: Preface xi 1 Introduction 1 1.1 What If We Have Been in a Collective Delusional State? 1 1.2 Have We Been Bankrupted to Become Unhealthy? 3 1.3 Grounding Is Necessary but with What? 9 1.4 Do We Even Know the Difference Between a Genius and an Insane Person? 9 1.5 Is There a Continuity Among Depression, Dementia, and Schizophrenia? 10 1.6 How Can We Stop Being Self-Destructive? 11 1.7 Start Living Rather Than Making a Living: Make Humanity Great Again 11 2 A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 13 2.1 Introduction 13 2.2 What Is a Human? 14 2.3 Aristotle s Definition of Humans 38 2.4 Cognitive Process in Humans 49 2.5 The Nature Science Model of Humanity 86 3 Chemical Drugs for Mental Health Disorder 95 3.1 Introduction 95 3.2 Basic Anatomy 97 3.3 Antidepressants 107 3.4 Something Left to Say About Serotonin 121 3.5 Connection of the Heart to Depression: The Intangible to the Tangible. 134 3.6 Additional Concerns 139 3.7 Bias in the Medical Research 145 3.8 Schizophrenia 161 3.9 Additional Comments and Conclusions 177 4 Psychological Grounding 179 4.1 Introduction 179 4.2 Culture of Fear 180 4.3 Have We Been Programed to Be Illogical? 184 4.4 Eurocentric Prejudice 206 4.5 Movement from Original Sin to Original Gene 212 4.6 Purpose of Life and Ideal Behavior 217 4.7 Looking at the Big Picture 227 4.8 The Truth Criterion 238 4.9 The Need for a Logical Standard 245 4.10 The Invocation of God 252 4.11 Is Invocation of God a Sound Premise? 254 4.12 Fundamental Traits of Phenomenal Entities 257 4.13 The Absolute Set of Fundamental Premises 261 4.14 Sufficiency of the Absolute Premises 264 4.15 Scientific Cognition Based on the Absolute Set of Fundamental Premises 265 5 Drivers of Mental Ailments and Natural Remedy 269 5.1 Introduction 269 5.2 Cause of Depression 270 5.3 Intangible Treatments for Depression 273 5.4 Tangible Treatments for Depression 298 6 Schizophrenia as a Tangible Expression of Mental Disorder 319 6.1 Introduction 319 6.2 Delinearized History of Schizophrenia 320 6.3 Intangible Treatments for Schizophrenia 329 6.4 Tangible Treatment of Schizophrenia 341 7 The Myopic Mindset of Self-Destruction 353 7.1 Introduction 353 7.2 The Oppression Syndrome 354 7.3 Gujarat Syndrome 370 8 Optimization of Lifestyle 383 8.1 Introduction 383 8.2 What Is Addiction? 385 8.3 Addictions that Start off as Normal 386 8.4 Addiction and Compulsion 399 8.5 Towards Finding a Cure to Addiction 401 8.6 Dynamic Optimization 412 9 Conclusions 415 9.1 Summary 415 9.2 Conclusions of Chapter 2 416 9.3 Conclusions of Chapter 3 417 9.4 Conclusions of Chapter 4 418 9.5 Conclusions of Chapter 5 419 9.6 Conclusions of Chapter 6 419 9.7 Conclusions of Chapter 7 420 9.8 Conclusions of Chapter 8 421 References and Bibliography 423 Appendix A: 99 Godly Qualities of Humans 495 Appendix B: Diet for Sharpening the Brain 533 Appendix C: An Overall Guideline for Living 561 Index 583

Citation preview

The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering

Scrivener Publishing 100 Cummings Center, Suite 541J Beverly, MA 01915-6106 Publishers at Scrivener Martin Scrivener ([email protected]) Phillip Carmical ([email protected])

The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering Applications for Mental Disorder Treatments

Volume 3

M. R. Islam Emertec Research and Development and Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Jaan S. Islam Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and G.M. Zatzman Emertec Research and Development, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

This edition first published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA and Scrivener Publishing LLC, 100 Cummings Center, Suite 541J, Beverly, MA 01915, USA © 2017 Scrivener Publishing LLC For more information about Scrivener publications please visit www.scrivenerpublishing.com. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Wiley Global Headquarters 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA For details of our global editorial offices, customer services, and more information about Wiley products visit us at www.wiley.com. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty While the publisher and authors have used their best efforts in preparing this work, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives, written sales materials, or promotional statements for this work. The fact that an organization, website, or product is referred to in this work as a citation and/or potential source of further information does not mean that the publisher and authors endorse the information or services the organization, website, or product may provide or recommendations it may make. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a specialist where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ISBN 978-1-119-18376-1

Cover image: Blue Spiral. Anette Linnea Rasmussen | Dreamstime.com Cover design by Kris Hackerott Set in size of 11pt and Minion Pro by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd., Chennai, India

Printed in the USA 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents Preface 1 Introduction 1.1 What If We Have Been in a Collective Delusional State? 1.2 Have We Been Bankrupted to Become Unhealthy? 1.3 Grounding Is Necessary but with What? 1.4 Do We Even Know the Difference Between a Genius and an Insane Person? 1.5 Is There a Continuity Among Depression, Dementia, and Schizophrenia? 1.6 How Can We Stop Being Self-Destructive? 1.7 Start Living Rather Than Making a Living: Make Humanity Great Again

11

2 A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 2.1 Introduction 2.2 What Is a Human? 2.2.1 Brain, Speech, Fire and Humanity 2.2.1.1 Brain Activities During Sleep 2.2.1.2 Cooking and Humanity 2.3 Aristotle’s Definition of Humans 2.4 Cognitive Process in Humans 2.4.1 Stages of Human Cognition 2.4.2 The Hereditary Gene Aphenomenon 2.4.3 Knowledge-Based Model 2.4.4 Physical Stages of Human Development 2.4.5 Cognition Among Children 2.4.5.1 Sensorimotor Stage 2.4.5.2 Preoperational Stage 2.4.5.3 Concrete Operational Stage 2.4.5.4 Formal Operational Stage 2.4.6 Beyond Piaget’s Model 2.4.7 Ecological Model of Bronfenbrenner 2.5 The Nature Science Model of Humanity

13 13 14 15 18 32 38 49 56 59 61 64 67 72 73 75 77 78 81 86

v

xi 1 1 3 9 9 10 11

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3

Chemical Drugs for Mental Health Disorder 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Basic Anatomy 3.2.1 The Brain 3.2.2 The Liver 3.2.3 The Kidneys 3.2.4 The Heart 3.2.5 The Lungs 3.2.6 The Stomach 3.2.7 The Small and Large Intestine 3.2.8 Spleen 3.2.9 Muscles 3.2.10 Summary of Hormones and Introduction to Neurotransmitters 3.3 Antidepressants 3.3.1 Overview of Antidepressant Drugs 3.3.1.1 Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors 3.3.1.2 Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs) 3.3.1.3 Tetracyclic Antidepressants 3.3.1.4 Tricyclic Antidepressants 3.3.1.5 Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors 3.3.1.6 Serotenergic Drugs/Agents 3.3.1.7 Summary of Adverse Effects 3.3.1.8 Conclusion 3.4 Something ‘Left’ to Say About Serotonin 3.5 Connection of the Heart to Depression: The Intangible to the Tangible. 3.6 Additional Concerns 3.6.1 Over-Medicalization 3.6.2 Mechanism of Action of SSRIs 3.7 Bias in the Medical Research 3.8 Schizophrenia 3.8.1 Theory Behind Schizophrenia 3.8.2 Efficacy and Safety of Antipsychotics 3.9 Additional Comments and Conclusions

4 Psychological Grounding 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Culture of Fear 4.3 Have We Been Programed to Be Illogical?

95 95 97 97 97 98 99 100 100 101 101 102 102 107 108 108 110 112 113 113 115 115 120 121 134 139 139 143 145 161 161 167 177 179 179 180 184

Contents vii 4.3.1 Science as the Mastermind of Absurd Logic 4.4 Eurocentric Prejudice 4.4.1 The Elephant in the Room: Why Modern European Philosophers Overlooked Logical Cognition 4.5 Movement from Original Sin to Original Gene 4.5.1 Cognitive Background 4.6 Purpose of Life and Ideal Behavior 4.7 Looking at the Big Picture 4.7.1 The Fundamental Premises of Ibn Khaldun 4.7.2 The Premises of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke 4.7.3 Comparing Standards 4.8 The Truth Criterion 4.9 The Need for a Logical Standard 4.10 The Invocation of God 4.11 Is Invocation of God a Sound Premise? 4.12 Fundamental Traits of Phenomenal Entities 4.13 The Absolute Set of Fundamental Premises 4.14 Sufficiency of the Absolute Premises 4.15 Scientific Cognition Based on the Absolute Set of Fundamental Premises 5 Drivers of Mental Ailments and Natural Remedy 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Cause of Depression 5.3 Intangible Treatments for Depression 5.3.1 The Intangible Theory 5.3.2 Yoga as an Intangible Treatment 5.3.3 Semi-Original Yoga-Related Medical Evidence 5.3.4 Religiosity and Depression 5.3.5 Standard and Religious Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Evidence Behind Theory) 5.3.6 Intangible Natural Treatments vs. Artificial Treatments 5.3.7 Conclusion of Intangible Treatments 5.4 Tangible Treatments for Depression 5.4.1 Saint John’s Wort Overview 5.4.1.1 Side Effects 5.4.1.2 Cost Effectiveness of St. John’s Wort 5.4.2 Nigella Sativa Seeds 5.4.3 Saffron 5.4.4 Others

186 206

208 212 213 217 227 228 230 232 238 245 252 254 257 261 264 265 269 269 270 273 273 282 288 289 290 296 297 298 298 305 308 312 313 315

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6 Schizophrenia as a Tangible Expression of Mental Disorder 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Delinearized History of Schizophrenia 6.3 Intangible Treatments for Schizophrenia 6.3.1 Qur’an 6.3.2 Music Therapy 6.3.3 Cognitive Therapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, and Cognitive Remediation 6.3.3.1 Favorable Conditions for Recovery 6.4 Tangible Treatment of Schizophrenia 6.4.1 Why Do Cigarettes Appeal to People with Schizophrenia? 6.4.2 Composition of Wine 6.4.2.1 Vitamin Content of Wine 6.4.2.3 Heart Healthy Nutrient Content of Wine 6.4.2.4 Other Chemical Compounds in Wine 6.4.3 What Natural Chemicals Can Help with Schizophrenia? 6.4.4 Chemical Composition of Honey 6.4.4.1 Carbohydrates 6.4.4.2 Proteins and Amino Acids 6.4.4.3 Vitamins, Minerals and Antioxidants 6.4.4.4 Other Compounds 6.4.5 Composition of Black Seed 6.4.5.1 Composition of Poppy Seed (from Bozan and Temelli, 2008) 6.4.6 Ketogenic Diet

319 319 320 329 329 331

7 The Myopic Mindset of Self-Destruction 7.1 Introduction 7.2 The Oppression Syndrome 7.2.1 Seven ‘Deadly’ Sins and Their Origin 7.2.1.1 Does Intention Precede Thought Process? 7.2.1.2 Source of Sin 7.2.1.3 How to Remedy a ‘Sin’ 7.2.1.4 Seven Gravest Sins in Qur’an 7.2.2 The Mindset of an Oppressor 7.2.3 Every Sin Comes from a False Premise 7.2.4 The Inevitable Trap of Self-Defeat 7.3 Gujarat Syndrome 7.3.1 Historical Perspective

353 353 354 356 359 360 361 362 365 367 368 370 371

334 335 341 344 345 345 346 346 346 347 347 347 347 348 348 348 351

Contents ix 8 Optimization of Lifestyle 8.1 Introduction 8.2 What Is Addiction? 8.3 Addictions that Start off as ‘Normal’ 8.3.1 Shopping 8.3.2 Tanning 8.3.3 Cosmetic Surgery 8.3.4 Pagophagia (Compulsive Ice Chewing) 8.3.5 Compulsive Hair Pulling 8.3.6 Tattooing 8.3.7 Internet Addiction 8.3.8 Workaholism 8.4 Addiction and Compulsion 8.5 Towards Finding a Cure to Addiction 8.5.1 Introduction 8.5.2 Deconstruction of Prevalent Myths 8.5.2.1 Myth 1. Addiction Is a Complex but Treatable Disease that Affects Brain Function and Behavior 8.5.2.2 Myth 2. No Single Treatment Is Appropriate for Everyone 8.5.2.3 Myth 3. Treatment Needs to Be Readily Available 8.5.2.4 Myth 4. Effective Treatment Attends to Multiple Needs of the Individual, Not Just His or Her Drug Abuse 8.5.2.5 Myth 5. Remaining in Treatment for an Adequate Period of Time Is Critical 8.5.2.6 Myth 6. Behavioral Therapies—Including Individual, Family, or Group Counseling—Are the Most Commonly Used Forms of Drug Abuse Treatment 8.5.2.7 Myth 7. Medications Are an Important Element of Treatment for Many Patients, Especially when Combined with Counseling and other Behavioral Therapies 8.5.2.8 Myth 8. Many Drug-Addicted Individuals also Have other Mental Disorders

383 383 385 386 386 389 390 393 394 395 396 398 399 401 401 402

402 402 403

403 403

403

404

404

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8.6

8.5.2.9 Myth 9. Medically Assisted Detoxification is only the First Stage of Addiction Treatment and by Itself Does Little to Change Long-Term Drug Abuse. Although Acute Physical Symptoms of Withdrawal Can, for Some, Pave the Way for Effective Long-Term Abstinence, Patients Should be Encouraged to Continue Drug Treatment Incentive Strategies, Begun at Initial Patient Intake, which can Improve Treatment Engagement 8.5.3 Why Addiction Is Not a Brain Disease 8.5.4 Consciously Quitting an Addiction 8.5.4.1 Intangible Aspects 8.5.4.2 Tangible Aspects Dynamic Optimization

404 405 407 408 410 412

9 Conclusions 9.1 Summary 9.2 Conclusions of Chapter 2 9.3 Conclusions of Chapter 3 9.4 Conclusions of Chapter 4 9.5 Conclusions of Chapter 5 9.6 Conclusions of Chapter 6 9.7 Conclusions of Chapter 7 9.8 Conclusions of Chapter 8

415 415 416 417 418 419 419 420 421

References and Bibliography

423

Appendix A: 99 Godly Qualities of Humans

495

Appendix B: Diet for Sharpening the Brain

533

Appendix C: An Overall Guideline for Living

561

Index

583

Preface Recent political events in the United States have brought the healthcare debate back to the forefront of public discourse. While debate rages about universal payer or “whether” healthcare is a right or a privilege, etc., the wheel is not being reinvented. President Richard Nixon signed into law the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973. This law decriminalized extracting private profit out of the healthcare system. Prior to this, medical insurance agencies, hospitals, clinics and even doctors, could not function as for-profit business entities. Meanwhile: how a real healthcare system should look is established in this book series on The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering.1 Such a system would include the following: 1. science of “medicine” must be broken down to create science of “health”; 2. care should be brought back to healthcare ; 3. there must be recognition that care-giving takes place continuously within a family, then community, then the region; 4. profiteering should be banned and profiting from people’s misery should be treated as treasonous. The fact that such ideals seem not to be present in the minds of those waging this struggle’s leading edge (e.g. radical liberals or extremist libertarians) suggests there is still no clear path forward. Until we can create a real paradigm shift, society will remain stuck choosing the lesser of two evils. This volume gets to the root of the problem by another path. It unfurls an option radically divergent from both the ‘left’ and the ‘right’, in which people would no longer be reduced to “choosing” between the equally toxic options of “chemicals for everything” and westernized

1

Islam et al., 2015; 2016.

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version of “yoga” that purports to free one’s mind of any thought. This book makes a case in favor of a truly sustainable approach. It calls out the current fashion of new science that has been giving us the culture of antidepressants, a culture that leads to suicide2 and “yoga” or — even worse — that leads to the raunchiest addictions to sex.3 Earlier in volumes 1 and 2, we established how ‘New’ Science (the postNewtonian obsession with short-term and tangibles) has disconnected humanity from conscience. It has done so by asserting a fake “Creator” that it calls ‘Nature.’ This ‘nature’ turns out to be… the Money god, enslaving its adherents in a remodeled ‘new’ trinity of financial establishment, media establishment, and the political establishment. Under this arrangement, the ‘scientists’ once again form the most faithful priesthood, all too happy to propagandize the scheme of the Money god. As discussed earlier, this latest ‘new’ science recycles Santa Claus and tooth fairy falsehoods to promote the sophistry of ‘big bang’, ‘evolution’ (as opposed to natural selection), Newton’s “laws” (which remain ‘true’ independently of the passage of time), quantum theory (with its utterly fantastic cat courtesy of Prof. Schrodinger) and founded upon ever more illogical versions of ‘original sin,’ the Trinity, and the flat earth idea. This book reconnects humanity with conscience and brings back the original scientific definition of grounding in order to regain mental health. By doing so, this book rescues people from the bombarding of alternate ‘fact’, ‘fake news’, and new-science sophistry. This volume documents the most significant firsts of the modern era, identifying whatever is truly unique about humanity. This is analyzed from both tangible and intangible perspectives. This unique feature has eluded scientists, theologians alike for at least a millennium. This volume begins with the purpose of human life. Then it discusses the way to ground psychologically and to seek a lifestyle that assures maximum success. How curious that we had to discuss this very notion at the dawn of the new millennium whereas there are hundreds of thousands of books, all focusing on 1001 ways to be successful before even considering the true purpose of life, let alone the impetus of a successful life. In this book, a refreshingly new approach is systematically introduced and embraced. It considers a pre-puberty child as a model for human

Carlsten A, et al., 2001, Antidepressant medication and suicide in Sweden, Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf., Oct-Nov. 3 Burke, K.L., 2016, Yoga Scandals: Dysfunction And Healing, http://yogadork. com/2016/05/03/yoga-scandals-dysfunction-and-healing/ 2

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xiii

beings. It uses this model to define good behavior. This child developPiaget or ‘the product ment model is not like the ‘lone researcher’ of the environment’ model of Vygotsky or even the system model of Bronfenbrenner. None of these childhood models is free from dogmatic premises that recapitulate different versions of the ‘original sin’ narration. The childhood model that was used in this book is the one that has a different starting point for defining humanity, acceptable behavior, accountability, and psychological grounding. The book lists 100 ‘godly’ qualities and shows each such quality has to be optimized in a lifestyle that will minimize mental and emotional maladies. This volume discusses ADHD and autism as part of natural qualities of children. Such a narration can help illuminate why conventional special educational curriculum and therapies have failed beyond giving some short-term antidotes.4 Natural traits for each child are presented and ways to capitalize on these natural traits in order to prepare children for their maturing into responsible adulthood as well as for remedying adult’s childhood trauma or pre-disposed psychological conditions. Once the humanity model is understood, the rest of the book becomes a step-by-step manual. All mental diseases are redefined as a departure from ideal human lifestyle and a detailed appendix is provided to offer a guideline for healthy food, energy, and environment. The book provides both tangible and intangible treatments of depression with an array of sustainable solutions. Two chapters are devoted to fighting addiction and getting a fresh start in life. Once again, both tangible and intangible solutions are offered. In characterizing mental illnesses, ‘diseases of the heart’ are dealt with differently from ‘diseases of the brain’, the latter set being part of a management regime rather than curative regime. Two syndromes are identified, both belonging to the intangible variety of mental illness. The first one, called the oppression syndrome, is defined as our affinity for short-term results. By following this natural desire, we end up oppressing others or our own selves. Once identified, this can be remedied by going back to fundamental premises and re-starting the natural cognition. The second syndrome presented is the Gujarat syndrome. It is the psychological equivalent of having contempt for one’s own mother. This syndrome manifests itself when a person is so focused on the short -term that he or she opts to first love the oppressor (Stockholm syndrome), but

4

Davis, W., Whirring, Purring Fidget Spinners Provide Entertainment, Not ADHD, May 14, 2017, http://www.npr.org/2017/05/14/527988954/whirring-purring-fidgetspinners-provide-entertainment-not-adhd-help

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then proceeds to loathe the fellow oppressed (thus becoming the scientific opposite of Stockholm syndrome). This book’s biggest contribution is the remedy it proposes for depression and other intangible forms of mental disease, viz. a total change in lifestyle. This lifestyle cannot operate blindly, however, purely within the confines of the status quo: it must be continuously optimized. Such optimization is not possible unless root causes of addiction are identified and removed from the lifestyle. A guideline for a step-by-step remedy to addiction is presented. An appendix is provided with a specific list of stimulants that can cause addiction. Finally, a manual is provided for diagnosis, remedy, and prevention of mental illnesses. Jaan S. Islam M.R. Islam Gary M. Zatzman

The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering: Applications for Mental Disorder Treatments, Volume 3. M. R. Islam, Jaan S. Islam and G.M. Zatzman. © 2017 Scrivener Publishing LLC. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

1 Introduction

1.1 What If We Have Been in a Collective Delusional State? Henry Ford famously said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right.” This seemingly correct and harmless slogan sums up the problem with modern-day cognition. When we hear René Descartes’ statement, “I think, therefore I am”, no one counters it by saying, ‘your thinking has nothing to do with your existence’. When Einstein said, “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one,” we redefined truth by perception, reinvigorating the Trinity delusion, instead of telling him off for secularizing dogmatic thinking. How ironic that today making up your own reality is considered to be the biggest sign of mental disorder. When Buddhist traditionalists told us, “We don’t exist”, we introduced Yoga1 that would ‘empty our mind’, nullifying the original meaning and

1

The word yoga in Sanskrit means ‘connection’ – not just with anyone but with Mahidhara (literally meaning holder of the earth) – the sustainer of the universe.

1

2

The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering

falsifying the meaning of the word entirely. Scientists, instead of leading the science – the essence of knowledge gathering – yielded to the comedians, politicians, and tabloid journalists that led the civilization down the path of collective insanity. Science has turned into a comedy show and engineering a cartoon. When Douglas Adams, a British satirist, said, “Everything you see or hear or experience in any way at all is specific to you. You create a universe by perceiving it, so everything in the universe you perceive is specific to you,” we found that to be profound. When Al Gore, the lawyer turned politician turned science activist quipped on his way to touting nuclear energy to the Middle East, “Here is the truth: The Earth is round; Saddam Hussein did not attack us on 9/11; Elvis is dead; Obama was born in the United States; and the climate crisis is real,” we didn’t see his hypocrisy. Then in the nadir of our hypocrisy, we gasped when a 52-year-old husband and father of seven, Paul Wolscht, declared from a newfound foster home, “I have gone back to being a child, Stefonknee”. In the meantime, we dig even deeper and double down on the same sliding slope by cheering on law professors, the likes of whom wrote, “Pedophilia: A Disorder, Not a Crime” (NewYork Times, Oct. 4, 2014). Instead of saying ‘we have heard that line before’, we nod feverishly. A scientist such as Richard Dawkins follows suit and says, “Mild pedophilia” doesn’t cause “lasting harm”.2 Then, we are surprised when we learn that an ex-policeman, Alexander McCracken, 35, and his lover plotted to conceive a baby so they could abuse it and share it with other paedophiles in a plot to ‘deffo rape a little baby girl’ (as reported in the Daily Mail on February 26, 2015). Everyone watches this saga of a naked emperor, but no shepherd emerges to call out the emperor, who stands déshabillé before us. We have no moral ground and we are too busy increasing our pleasure and decreasing pain to think anything other than self-interest in the shortest term. We have lost all connection to our conscience. Chapter 2 resets our collective delusional behavior to logical thinking and forces us to reevaluate what a human is before talking about human rights, the natural state of a human, or human maladies. This chapter reveals that we have been conned by ‘philosophers’ that are actually contemptuous Richard Dawkins was quoted in Salon (Sept. 10, 2013) as follows: “I am very conscious that you can’t condemn people of an earlier era by the standards of ours. Just as we don’t look back at the 18th and 19th centuries and condemn people for racism in the same way as we would condemn a modern person for racism, I look back a few decades to my childhood and see things like caning, like mild pedophilia, and can’t find it in me to condemn it by the same standards as I or anyone would today.” 2

Introduction 3 of true knowledge, leaders that don’t care for those they are leading, and scientists that have zero tolerance for real science. The chapter establishes the undeniable connection of modern-day narration of humanity with the ‘original sin’ model and shows that over last few centuries, we have piled up hubris in building up falsehood over falsehood, while packaging dogmatic delusion as a secular enlightenment. The chapter sets the stage for replacing the culture of fear with the science of hope.

1.2 Have We Been Bankrupted to Become Unhealthy? It is well recognized that the United States leads the world in technology development. According to World Bank data, the United States spent 17.4% of GDP on health care as compared to a world average of 9% of GDP. Outside of the military (which consumes nearly 3.5% of GDP government spending in 2014), healthcare is the largest industry in the United States. Interestingly, both defense and healthcare have to do with saving lives directly. However, healthcare is more closely associated with saving lives than defense, even though government spending in healthcare is much lower than that for defense. Figure 1.1 shows healthcare

< 4.10 4.10 – 6.10 6.10 – 7.81 7.81 – 9.81 > 9.81

Figure 1.1 Health care expenses as a percentage of GDP (from World Bank website, http:// data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.TOTL.ZS?end=2014&start=2014&view=map)

4

The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering 10%

7.5%

5%

2.5%

A US

Ke ny So a ut h Ko re a Ro m an So ia ut h Af ric a

Fr an ce

Fij i

Eg yp t

Ch ile

Au st ra lia

0%

Figure 1.2 Percentage of healthcare for mental healthcare (data from WHO).

spending as a percentage of GDP for various countries and demonstrates how it has become the biggest financial drain for developed countries. Even though, approximately 10% of the total cost involves mental healthcare, it is meaningful considering the fact that mental ailments are the source of physical complications and eventual maladies (Islam et al., 2015). The bulk of this expense is in mental healthcare. Figure 1.2 shows some of the biggest spenders (in % GDP) on mental healthcare. The United States is by far the biggest spender in terms of actual dollars spent per capita. Further analysis shows that the biggest rise in mental healthcare costs is for prescription drugs – an expense that has skyrocketed in recent years (Figure 1.3). As pointed out by Kliff (2012), the near collapse of inpatient care is not an accident. The shift away from inpatient spending goes back to the 1960s, when states began moving away from institutionalization for the mentally ill. The Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963 pushed for more treatment in community settings rather than in state-run, psychiatric institutions. As Kliff pointed out, By treating the rest in the least-restrictive settings possible, the thinking went, we would protect the civil liberties of the mentally ill and hasten their recoveries. Surely community life was better for mental health than a cold, unfeeling institution.

Introduction 5 Distribution of mental health expenditures b Type of service, 1986 & 2005 Prescription drugs Residential

22%

Outpatient

24%

Inpatient

7% 27%

Prescription drugs

14%

Residential

33%

Outpatient

19%

Inpatient

42%

1986 Total = $32 billion

2005 Total = $ 113 billion

Figure 1.3 Prescription drug expenses have seen the highest increase at the expense of inpatient care.

But in the decades since, the sickest patients have begun turning up in jails and homeless shelters with a frequency that mirrors that of the late 1800s. “We’re protecting civil liberties at the expense of health and safety,” says Doris A. Fuller, the executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, a nonprofit group that lobbies for broader involuntary commitment standards. “Deinstitutionalization has gone way too far.”

Translation? We have once again been conned with a false promise. It is estimated that some $330 billion out of $2.2 trillion of healthcare costs in the United States are due to prescription medicine (IMS, 2013). IMS Reports indicate the most prescribed drugs, along with their applications and known side effects, are as given in Table 1.1. This table shows that antidepressant drugs themselves come as the second most prescribed drugs. In addition, it should be noted that all side effects induce anxiety that can cause or aggravate mental illnesses. For certain situations, this would create a spiral down mode as the distinction between biological and mental illnesses continues to be erased (Kosslyn et al., 2002). A recent study (Crump et al., 2013) found that on average, women and men with bipolar disorder died 9 and 8.5 years earlier, respectively, than people in the general population. People with bipolar disorder were two times more likely to die from any cause and were also at increased risk of death from heart disease, diabetes, COPD,

The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering

Table 1.1 The most prescribed drugs and their application and side effects.

Total prescription (2010 data), in million

255.4

253.6

244.3

191.5

Prescription drug

Lipid regulators

Antidepressants

Narcotic analgesics

Beta blockers

Diabetes/ Headache, stomach upset, loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhea or vomiting may occur as your body adjusts to the medication. Inform your doctor if you develop: itchy skin, dark urine, fever, sore throat, swelling of the hands or feet, unusual bleeding or bruising. This medication can cause low blood sugar (hypoglycemia).

165

153.3

Antidiabetes

Respiratory agents

Respiratory diseases/ myocardial infarctions, arrhythmias, sudden cardiac death, thrombosis, increase in the atherogenic LDL cholesterol, liver damage, impairment of thyroid function, insulin resistance and diminished glucose tolerance, damage in reproductive system, infertility, fluctuation of moods, irritability, uncontrolled aggression, other affective or psychotic symptoms and syndromes.

High blood pressure, stroke prevention, kidney disease and diabetes/ cough, elevated blood potassium levels, low blood pressure, dizziness, headache, drowsiness, weakness, abnormal taste (metallic or salty taste), rash.

Ace (angiontension 168.7 converting enzyme) inhibitor

High blood pressure, Congestive heart failure, Glaucoma and Migraines/ Diarrhea,Stomach cramps,Nausea,Vomiting.

Severe pain/ Respiratory depression, Nausea, Drowsiness.

Depression/ Nausea, Weight Gain, Sexual Dysfunction, Fatigue, Drowsiness, Insomnia, Vision Problems, Constipation

Cholesterol control/ Insomnia, Headache, Diarrhea, Constipation, Abdominal pain, Vomiting,Weakness, Muscle pain, Dizziness, Chest pain, Back pain, Hair loss, Skin reactions, Loss of appetite, Cramps, Memory loss, Liver disorders, Weight gain, Muscle disorders 

Primary application/side effects

6

Total prescription (2010 data), in million

147.1

131

121.7

108.6

Prescription drug

Anti-Ulcerants

Diuretics

Anti-epileptic

Tranquilizer

Table 1.1 Cont.

Depression/ Heartburn, loss of appetite, Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation, abnormal liver function, jaundice, drowsiness, fatigue, disorientation, ataxia, unsteady gait, slowing of motor and mental reactions. euphoria, depression, headache, tremor, incoordination, memory loss, depressed mood, uncontrolled movements (including eye movements), reduced blood pressure, increased heart rate (tachycardia, changes in body weight, impaired libido, menstrual disorders, anemia, renal failure, Allergic reactions (itching, rash, edema).

Epilepsy/ Drowsiness, bone thinning, Memory loss

Hyper tension/ tachycardia, irregular heart beat, nausea, blurry vision, constipation or diarrhea.

Peptic ulcers, indigestion/ Decrease in immunity, Drowsiness, galactorrhoea, gynaecomatia, constipation or diarrhoea, lassitude, decreased libido, skin rash, Convulsions, arrhythmias and cardiac arrest, dysrrehythmias in patients with CV disease or hypokalaemia, patients on cancer chemotherapy. Seizure, hypertensive crisis in patients with phaeochromocytoma.

Primary application/side effects

Introduction 7

8

The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering

flu or pneumonia, accidental injuries, and suicide. Women with bipolar disorder also had an increased risk of death from cancer. Also confirmed is a commonly known fact that mental illness can invoke suicidal behavior among the most vulnerable population of the community (Kelleher, 2013). Such occurrence of death further complicates the fact that several of the antidepressant drugs have been proven to increase suicidal behavior among the same population (Ilgen et al., 2010; Knock et al., 2013; Khan and Islam, 2012). To date, it is considered that non-mental illnesses are primarily responsible for deaths. For instance, in the United States, heart disease is considered to be the leading cause of death, followed by cancer, stroke, respiratory diseases and accidents. However, if one takes the definition of health as “…a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of a disease or infirmity” (WHO, 2001), it becomes clear that mental health is intimately connected with physical health and behavior (Herrman, 2007). In fact, a more focused definition of mental health includes the following: “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”. It is becoming increasingly clear that mental health is the foundation for overall well-being and good health. The fact that mental health doesn’t receive as much focus as biological health emerges from the focus of society on tangibles and its reluctance to go beyond symptoms and medicinal interference. In terms of historical background, the increase in prescription drugs involving antidepressants has been dramatic (a rise from 59.7% in 1996 to 72.7% in 2007) even though the number of diagnosed cases has not gone up (Mojtabai and Olfson, 2011). Painkillers are also being prescribed at an alarming rate. A hike of 600 percent was reported over the last decade (Zennie, 2012). Chapter 3 investigates how the culture that converted the true purpose of life into ‘be happy’, ‘have fun’, ‘live to the fullest’ (translation: maximize pleasure and minimize pain, while making the rich richer and the poor poorer) has failed us. Chapter 3 analyzes the true effects of chemical drugs for various cases of mental ailments. It confirms some of the recent studies that indicate that nearly half of the total healthcare cost ($1.2 trillion out of $2.2 trillion total in 2008, $2.7 trillion in 2013) can be characterized as waste (Kavilanz, 2009). More importantly, it shows how prescription drugs have made us bankrupt both financially and emotionally.

Introduction 9

1.3 Grounding Is Necessary but with What? The talk of grounding has become ubiquitous – so much so that it has become what atomic energy and the sexual revolution were in the 1960s, in terms of generating tangible and intangible energy, respectively (no pun intended). Every crisis of a personal or social nature, be it depression, anxiety, alienation, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, financial difficulties, “there is an app for it”, and it’s called grounding. Everyone is yelling ‘focus’, but where? They focus on ‘nothing’ and that’s where the lunacy of new science3 sets in. Karl Marx wrote in Das Kapital (vol. I), “To know what is useful for a dog, one must study dog-nature. This nature itself is not to be deduced from the principle of utility. Applying this to man, he who would criticize all human acts, movements, relations, etc., by the principle of utility, must first deal with human nature in general, and then with human nature as modified in each historical epoch.” Now that we know from Chapter 2 what humanity is, and what the purpose of human life is, Chapter 4 is ready to tell us how to deliver as a human, to be grounded and how to be grounded. It deconstructs centuries of disinformation and reconstructs a logical pathway for psychological grounding. It shows how to overcome the culture of fear and replace it with the audacity of hope.

1.4 Do We Even Know the Difference Between a Genius and an Insane Person? We live in a culture that has a name for every ailment, but a cure for none. We introduced Volume 1 of this book series (Islam et al., 2015) with the following remark. A professor of medicine in Canada was asked if there is any cure in modern era of any contemporary disease. After some reflection, he named penicillin as the only medicine that cures a disease. “Why then do physicians routinely ask if a patient has ever taken penicillin in his lifetime?”, he was asked. This time the professor was quick in replying, “Oh, that’s because today’s penicillin is synthetic (artificial)”. Of course, that poses the pointed question of whether there is any

3 This term is used innumerable times in this book. The word ‘New science’ refers to postNewtonian era that is marked by a focus on tangibles and short-term. In essence, new science promotes a myopic vision, for which the historical background of any event is ignored in favour a time slot that fits the desired outcome of a scientific process.

10

The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering medicine today that is not artificial.” The same question was posed five years later, this time to an American professor of medicine. He couldn’t come up with any medicine. When the name penicillin was mentioned to him, he quipped, “Oh, penicillin is the proof that modern era has no medicine that cures; it only delays the symptoms” (p.1).

There is a reason that the modern era has no cure for any ailment. It’s because we do not know the cause of any disease. Pragmatism rules supreme as the indisputable dogma that governs our way of thinking, and that pragmatism tells us whatever sells is the truth. So, there is no incentive to finding the cause of a disease. After all, heaven forbid, that might actually cut our drug profit. Of course, often we know the presence of bacteria gives one a certain ailment. But how is a human body overcome with such bacteria, defying all the immune mechanism we have in place? More importantly, how does an ailment persist even after the stimulus has been vanquished? While a cure is settled for a ‘management regimen’, who cares to find the cause when life-long management is far more lucrative? Chapter 5 takes a bottom-up approach. It looks into the causes of mental ailments after dividing the problem into tangible and intangible categories. Then, it offers natural remedies of both intangible and tangible varieties. Once the causes are revealed, the remedy becomes self-evident. Nevertheless they are presented and a guideline provided.

1.5 Is There a Continuity Among Depression, Dementia, and Schizophrenia? We live in a culture with experts that are more like a sex consultant who cannot get a date. Everyone claims to know the answer to every question except the one that matters. Starting from the Harvard College days when ‘how many angels can dance on a pinhead’ was a serious research question, we have traveled through the nonsense of “if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” to “Do we need God to be righteous?” In this book series, we have repeatedly questioned the fundamental premises of every theory that shaped our technology development. In this book, we show how new science has built up prejudices to congratulate itself rather than asking real questions that could unearth solutions to the crises humanity is facing. Chapter 6 answers the question as to how schizophrenia is different from dementia, depression and all other ailments. It then offers both tangible and intangible solutions.

Introduction 11

1.6 How Can We Stop being Self-Destructive? We have thus far established that every chemical solution to a problem has yielded an opposite outcome. These are not just ‘unintended’ side effects nor are they accidents. Scientific analysis shows these solutions are inherently counter-productive. So, how do we handle a healthcare system that introduces drugs as a cure to addiction while promoting the worst form of addiction? And, what mindset allows us to continue to rely on the same agents that lied to us repeatedly in the past? Chapter 7 analyzes the root causes of the self-destructive mindset and describes two categories of syndromes. The first one, called the oppression syndrome, addresses the general propensity to self-destruction. What used to be known as ‘taking pleasure in sinful acts’ is given a scientific explanation without resorting to the ‘original sin’ narration. More importantly, it is shown how such behavior can be identified and therefore corrected. The second syndrome deals with a mindset that develops contempt toward conscience and conscientious thinking. It’s called the Gujarat syndrome. Gujarat is a state in India that saw massacres of Muslims leading up to Muslims voting for the ruling party that was partially implicated in the massacre and, furthermore, developing contempt toward fellow Muslims. This syndrome is like being allergic to sunlight. On the tangible side, this latest syndrome can be compared with being allergic to mother’s milk.

1.7 Start Living Rather Than Making a Living: Make Humanity Great Again Chapter 8 presents a recipe for resetting the mind clock. First it identifies the root causes of addiction – the biggest impediment to time optimization. Then, it offers practical solutions to optimize a lifestyle. This chapter is equipped with an appendix and a manual that can be used for all who seek a remedy to all major mental health problems. The book ends with major conclusions and a 50-page list of references and a bibliography.

The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering: Applications for Mental Disorder Treatments, Volume 3. M. R. Islam, Jaan S. Islam and G.M. Zatzman. © 2017 Scrivener Publishing LLC. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

2 A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior

2.1 Introduction Averröes, the father of European secular philosophy, famously stated, “Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hatred, and hatred leads to violence. This is the equation”. Today, at the dawn of the Information Age, such a statement couldn’t be more timely in the face of extreme violence around the world. This chapter investigates the natural traits of humans and how such traits can be best utilized to promote hope instead of fear and love instead of hatred. This chapter reveals currently used models of humanity and their undeniable connection to the ‘original sin’ model. If this ‘original sin’ assumption is removed, however, humans emerge as inherently ‘godly’ and continue to be that way if they act based on conscience. Any departure from a conscious and conscientious pathway makes humans and all ensuing policies and agendas inherently implosive. This model of humans can be best characterized as based on sustainability and hope, thus replacing all current models that are based on fear and scarcity.

13

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering

The meaning of human life is a research question that is as old as humanity itself. In the post-Roman Catholic Church era, this question has been rephrased in different forms, such as “Why are we here?”, “What is life all about?”, and “What is the purpose of existence?” or even “Does life exist at all?” It is recognized in modern Europe that these questions are universal and worthy of research and authoritative opinions. In Volumes 1 and 2 of this book series (Islam et al., 2015, 2016), we have presented theories that establish the need to ask these questions that must be answered for a person to gain grounding. This grounding is relevant for mental health as well as emotional well-being. It is also important to understand how these questions have been dealt with during the childhood of a person (Neighbors et al., 2013). Although not explicitly recognized, these questions have been answered in all disciplines with philosophical, scientific, and theological speculations of similar rigor. All speculations in Europe avoided any reference to the Qur’an, the book that claims itself to be a divine revelation, thereby being the external and universal standard. In the absence of this universal standard—unlike what happened after the Qur’an’s acceptance gained momentum in Islamic political philosophy—there have been a large number of proposed answers to these questions, all of which contain an Orientalist/ Eurocentric or apologist perspective. These one-sided views, as manifested by the often covered-up fundamental premises that are aphenomenal, are then presented as the universal view of practically all disciplines, ranging from social science to engineering. Not surprisingly, the focus in modern literature has been anxiety and resulting ‘disorders’ among children (Mian et al., 2011). Even when it comes to a childhood education model and modelization, the focus has been a dysfunctional and/or problematic social environment (Plotnik and Wahle, 2010). In modeling human behavior, the focus has been mainly on tangible aspects. When it comes to children, it is not uncommon to find modeling with animals, with the most tangible features as the focus of modelization (Christoffersen et al., 2013). If one aspires to conduct scientific modelization, it must model the intangible features. In this regard, it is of utmost importance to evaluate the human emotion model with the children’s educational model.

2.2 What Is a Human? New science has not been able to answer the simplest of questions of substance — not, at least, without resorting to dogma and exceptionalism. We don’t know what a human is or what are the unique features of humanity.

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 15 Researchers routinely spew out conclusions and throw the readership in all directions. Only recently, researchers at a meeting said they had found the oldest tools made by human ancestors—stone flakes dated to 3.3 million years ago. This is 700,000 years older than the previously oldest-known tools. The implicit assumption is that tool making and usage is something that definitively distinguishes Homo sapiens from the rest of the animal kingdom. The unstated understanding that informs the approach taken by new science to answering this question is that the explanation/answer will be neither complete nor truly scientific without establishing this tangible existence. As a consequence, all definitions of human focus on tangible qualities, resulting in a preposterous and often dogmatic narration of humanity. For instance, the most ‘scientific’ studies focus on human characteristics that allegedly evolved over the past 6 million years. With a fundamentally flawed premise, the narration continues with external features, such as walking upright, brain size, tool making, domesticating plants and animals, cooking, communication (speech), etc. The aphenomenal description doesn’t stop here as dates are attached to the external features. Following is a summary: Walking upright: 2.5–6 million years ago. Animal slaughter and use of tools: 500,000 years – 2.5 million years ago. Changing body and complexion: continuous process Use of fire: Has evolved from ‘recent’ invention (12,000 years) to ‘integral to being human’. Behavior: propensity to violence and aggression is equated in part—as an allegedly tangible expression with humanity— with humanity and large brain sizes. Brain size: Continuous process of evolution. Social progress: Continuous process, evolving from ‘savagery’ to civilization.

2.2.1 Brain, Speech, Fire and Humanity For some time, the brain had been considered to be as rigid as atoms in a bigger scale. It was Dr. Norman Doidge that introduced neuroplasticity in order to describe human brains as non-rigid entities that can change, and can be rewired. Indeed, what is unique about the brain is that its circuits can, through mental experience and activity, form, unform, and reform in new ways. In that sense, what we termed as ‘intangible’ dictates the tangible aspects of the brain (Islam et al., 2016). This is an important discovery as for the longest time the brain has been considered to be the driver of the human psyche, making it rather difficult to suggest any repair of a mental

16

The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering

ailment. Unusual brain activities have always been part of the considerations in search of the uniqueness of humanity. Darwin considered language and fire to be the two most important unique traits of humanity.1 Even though traditional evolution theory would indicate there has to have been a human society that didn’t have language and survived uncooked food, no such society has been found. The notion that fire and language skills are fundamental to humanity gain traction with Harvard biologist Richard Wrangham, who believes that fire is needed to fuel the organ that makes possible all the other products of culture, language included: the human brain. His original work evolves from the study of human evolution based on the behavioral ecology of apes. Curiously his original work is a recycled version of the original sin model that equated humans with ‘demonic male apes’ (Wrangham and Peterson, 1993). Islam et al. (2015) detailed this model and deconstruction thereof. It is remarkable that the model that equated humanity to violence and ‘demonic’ behavior found a way to theorize the connection between humans and such fine qualities as cooking and communication (through languages). While observing chimpanzees, Wrangham and his co-workers (Whiten et al., 1999) concluded certain ‘human-specific’ behavior, significantly more than previously suspected for chimpanzees, were present in chimpanzees. They presented a systematic synthesis of this information from the seven most long-term studies, which together have accumulated 151 years of chimpanzee observation. This comprehensive analysis reveals patterns of variation that are far more extensive than have previously been documented for any animal species except humans. These traits involve mainly cultural and social behaviors. They included 39 different behavior patterns, including tool usage, grooming and courtship behaviors, and demonstrated that chimpanzees have these traits even though they had been considered to be uniquely human traits. This study also revealed that among mammalian and avian species, cultural variation had previously been identified only for single behavior patterns, such as the local dialects of song-birds. Consequently, none of these traits can now be considered to be uniquely human. Although the combined repertoire of these behavior patterns in each chimpanzee community is itself highly distinctive, this doesn’t answer the question as to what is unique about humans. Self-medication is also taken as a sign of adaptive evolution (Singer et al., 2009). Once considered to be a unique trait, self-medication now is

1

Use of fire and language are considered to be accomplishments of humanity. We don’t agree with this hypotheses, but discuss it here as one of the features of New Science.

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 17 considered to be common in many species of herbivores and omnivores (Huffman, 1997; 2001; 2003; Lozano, 1998; Hutchings et al., 2003; Wrangham et al. (1983). Such behavior ranges from obvious foraging behaviors such as leaf-swallowing by chimpanzees (Wrangham and Nishida, 1983), collecting foliage or resin as nest material by birds and ants (Clark and Mason, 1988; Christe et al., 2003), to the consumption of dirt or clay (Krishnamani and Mahaney, 2000). Wrangham built on this idea, arguing that the invention of cooking was crucial to human brain evolution. Soft, cooked foods are much easier to digest than tough raw ones, yielding more calories for less gastrointestinal work. Other researchers have proposed that similar trade-offs might have occurred between brain and muscle, given how much stronger chimps are  than humans. The most significant work of Wrangham is in his focus on the role of cooking in human evolution (Wrangham et al., 1999; Wrangham, 2009; Wrangham, 2006). Cooking food is shown as a requirement for high energy budget for humans that spend an unusually large amount of energy for functioning of the brain. In the average adult human, the brain represents about 2% of the body weight, whereas the brain accounts for about 20% of the oxygen and, hence, energy consumed by the body (Clark & Sokoloff, 1999). This high rate of metabolism is remarkably constant despite widely varying mental and motoric activity (Sokoloff et al., 1955). This is significant because it means that a human has the capability of being very efficient as expressed as activities per amount of energy consumption. In Volume 1 of this book series, we have seen that humans only have the freedom of intention. In absence of data on what intention means in terms of brain activity (this may well be the topic of future research), it is safe to assume that making intention would have little effect on the energy budget of the brain. If a person is very active in making conscious decisions, he is not likely to spend more energy than a person on automated mode. The question arises as to how the brain energy budget is affected if a person is indulging in addictive behavior or if another person is mentally challenged and doesn’t need to make conscious decisions. Also, how do children exhaust their brain energy? Not withstanding research findings of these questions, it is reasonable to assume that conscious and conscientious decisions are not energy-intensive and in fact may help in grounding a person, as long as he or she is making decisions based on long-term considerations. In this aspect, it is interesting to observe how children cognize. Van Strien et al. (2011) reported that children responded more slowly and less accurately than adults when it came to face recognition. Even though they didn’t statistically test for performance differences between

18

The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering

children and adults, they concluded that children had more difficulty with the continuous face recognition task than adults. However, when it came to first repetitions (R1), adult responses were in general slower than in face recognition. Younger children tended to demonstrate an opposite pattern (less accuracy for new faces compared to R1), while older children did not differ in accuracy between new faces and R1(p = .546). With extended word recognition, both children (Van Strien et al., 2009a) and adults (Hagenbeek et al., 2007; Scheltens and Barkhof, 2007; Van Strien et al., 2005) exhibited lower accuracies and longer latencies in response to R1 than in response to new words. This suggests that new words are more easily evaluated than old words at R1 by all age groups. With faces, children, and younger children in particular, appear to have more difficulty with new items than with R1 items, which is in line with their difficulty in recognizing unfamiliar faces (Taylor et al., 2004). Note that in comparison with children, the adults’ accuracy was much better for new faces, but not for R1 faces. Repetitions are not conducive to conscious cognition. For children, however, new face recognition is a challenge, because there is no baseline. An adult with experience and access to it is clearly at an advantage. The lower accuracy for new faces in children is also reflected in their response biases, which are more liberal than in adults. Speaking in terms of evolution, a child doesn’t need to have face recognition skill. In fact, he is expected to be surrounded by people that protect him. Adults, on the other hand, need to stay vigilant against predators and protect family.

2.2.1.1

Brain Activities During Sleep

Sleep appears to be a universal phenomenon. It’s unclear exactly why organisms need to sleep, let alone whether every last species actually sleeps. In fact, even the definition of sleep varies. For instance, for vertebrates, during times of sleep, there’s usually a reduction in physical activity and a decreased response to outside stimuli. It seems most species do sleep, although differences exist between the sleeping patterns of different types of animals. Giraffes require very little sleep; they enjoy only about 30  minutes a day of deep sleep split into several separate sessions. Conversely, brown bats average close to 20 hours a day. Most mammal species need significantly more sleep when they’re young, although baby orcas and baby bottlenose dolphins appear to not sleep at all during the first few months of life. There are also examples of animals that can disrupt their normal sleeping patterns for certain special events, such as migratory birds which can survive with significantly less sleep during migratory seasons without

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 19 building up any sleep debt. Some have been shown to take extremely brief power naps of just a few seconds, sometimes using unihemispheric sleep to remain semialert to their surroundings. During unihemispheric sleep, which is also practiced by some marine mammals like whales and dolphins, half the brain powers down into various sleepy-time modes, while the other half remains ready for action. When it comes to invertebrates and other simpler forms of life, they’re rarely studied with the electroencephalograms that look for telltale EEG patterns, or the brain’s electrical activity, so the definition of sleep tends to focus more on behavioral cues such as physical inactivity, typical postures, regular cycles and a return to activity when roused. Fish and amphibians are among the creature types for whom it’s still a little unclear whether actual sleep occurs, or if they’re simply exhibiting signs that suggest a resting state. Insects, on the other hand, do set aside time to sleep. The premise we use is that humans are the most developed form of creation, with sleep patterns that should illuminate special and unique features of humanity. We know that humans spend significant portion of their lifespan in sleeping. Considering that sleep is a state that negates the gathering of nutritional resources, contravenes reproduction, precludes active social interaction, and renders vulnerability to predation, it has to play a significant role in some other aspects that are not yet clear to new science. With the starting point of new science, these aspects cannot be revealed, let alone studied in depth. For instance, with new science, there should have been significant evolutionary pressure to select against such a brain and behavioral state of apparent inactivity. Yet, sleep has persisted, suggesting that there must be considerable functional benefits that outweigh the obvious detriments. However, new science is inundated with measurements of brain functions during sleep, albeit with a focus on tangible aspects, such as memory processing. Ever since the invention of electroencephalography (EEG) by German psychiatrist, Hans Berger (1873–1941) in 1924, observing brain activities has become popular. The original notion was to record “brain waves” (thus was the term coined), and the alpha wave rhythm known as “Berger’s wave” was named after its discoverer. Although sleep appears to be a passive and restful time, brain activities do not correlate with wakefulness. Instead, during sleep time, highly active and well-scripted interplay of brain circuits function, resulting in sleep’s various stages. Figure 2.1 shows the brain waves of a young adult recorded by an electroencephalogram (EEG) during a night’s sleep. As the adult passes into deeper stages of sleep, the brain waves gain higher amplitude. This period of lowfrequency wave sleep is accompanied by relaxation of the muscles and the

20

The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering Awake

Stage 4

Awake Stage 1

Stage 1

Stage 3 Stage 2

Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 1

2

3 4 5 Time (hours)

6

7

Figure 2.1 Brain waves as a function of time during sleep (redrawn from Brainfact.org).

eyes. Heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature all fall. If awakened during this time, most people recall only fragmented thoughts, not active dreams. That imposes another unknown, viz., the cause of dreams. Over the next half hour or so, brain activity alters drastically, from deep slow wave sleep to REM sleep, characterized by neocortical EEG waves similar to those observed during waking. Paradoxically, the fast, waking-like EEG activity is accompanied by atonia, or paralysis of the body’s muscles. Only the muscles that allow breathing and control eye movements remain active. During REM sleep, active dreaming takes place. Heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature become much more variable. This is the period when a sleeping person would often have sexual arousals, manifested through erection for males. The first REM period usually lasts 10 to 15 minutes. Throughout the night, the individual goes through these stages multiple times, with brief periods of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, during which the EEG is similar to wakefulness. This pattern has been known since the 1950s through a series of measurements involving EEG as well as movements of eyes and the limbs. New science cannot distinguish between the state of wakefulness and the state of sleep while brain waves are similar. In other words, brain waves alone cannot be the distinguishing criterion for humans nor can they explain how human consciousness is connected to brain activities. Over the course of a lifetime, the pattern of sleep cycles changes. Infants sleep up to 18 hours per day, and they spend much more time in deep slow wave sleep. As children mature, they spend less time asleep and less time in deep slow wave sleep. Older adults may sleep only six to seven hours per night. What’s more, adults often complain of early waking that they cannot avoid and spend very little time in slow wave sleep. Figure 2.2 shows how the average time for sleeping varies in different phases of human lives. At infancy, humans can sleep as much as 20 hours

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 21 Average sleeping period, hrs 16 14 Childhood

12

Regressing adulthood

10 Prime adulthood 8 6 4 0

2

4

6

8

10

12 14 Age, yrs

16

30

50

70

90

110

Figure 2.2 Average sleep duration as a function of age.

a day. As time progresses, this duration declines rapidly, settling around 9 hours a day during early puberty. This is the period mental maturity increases drastically and arguably humans reach an optimum in terms of mental maturity and purity of conscience (Islam et al., 2015). Another optimum, perhaps a combination of physical and mental maturity, takes place around 30 years of age, at which point humans require the shortest amount of sleep. At least in terms of sleep budget, the trend continues up to 60 years of age, followed by a regression period that sees human sleep budget falling back to near-childhood. New science has focused on the tangible aspects of aging and observed consequences of aging on the brain as manifested in physical activities. Wöstmann et al. (2015) recorded the alpha waves of 20- to 30-year-old and 60- to 70-year-old study participants during a hearing task. The participants listened to two spoken numbers and had to indicate by pressing a button whether the second number was higher or lower than the first. The numbers were presented in background noise to simulate the type of hearing situation frequently encountered in everyday life. To prevent the results from being falsified by variations in the individual hearing performance of the ear, the scientists tested the hearing acuity of all participants prior to the task and adapted the speech material to the requirements of each individual. This made the task equally difficult for younger and older participants. While the participants were solving the number task, the researchers manipulated the acoustic quality by removing certain frequencies from the speech signal, rendering them sounding

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like computer-generated speech. They also intentionally varied the predictability of the task’s solution. If a very low number is given first, there is a greater probability that the second number will be higher. With better predictability, older and younger participants became quicker at completing the task. However, the outcome was different when the acoustic quality was changed: The older test persons paradoxically benefited to a greater extent from better quality and completed the task more quickly. The major significance of acoustic quality for older participants was also reflected in the alpha waves. With better speech quality, the amplitude of the alpha waves in the group of older participants was significantly lower than among the younger ones. Attention in old age apparently shifts to acoustic aspects of the speech signal. The results of a survey among participants also point to the importance of alpha waves. Here they had to estimate their own difficulty of listening to a person when others are speaking loudly in the background. Participants who adapted their alpha waves better to the acoustic quality of speech and to the predictability of speech in the experiment found it easier to listen despite background noise. They concluded that the modulation of the alpha waves influences speech comprehension in everyday hearing situations. The role of sleep in regeneration of vital building blocks has been known for decades. Studies in the 1970s and 1980s reported that transcription, the process of making ribonucleic acid (RNA) from deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), was accelerated by sleep (Giuditta et al., 1980). Considering that RNAs play a distinctive role in cancer pathways (Schmitt and Chang, 2016), sleep becomes an important component of physical welfare. Apart from the curative qualities of sleep, sleep also modulates gene transcription, as was confirmed using more sophisticated microarray analyses, which allow for the simultaneous examination of thousands of individual transcripts. These studies revealed that approximately 5% of gene transcripts in the rat cortex are modulated by sleep and wakefulness (Cirelli et al., 2004). Wakefulness was associated with increased expression of genes in the cortex that support high-energy demand, elevated transcriptional activity and synaptic potentiation. Interestingly, sleep was reported to elevate cortical messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of genes associated with protein synthesis 5 and 6, a process known to be critical for the building of new synapses and the strengthening of existing synapses (Mackiewicz et al., 2007). Although much of this research has focused on the cortex, recent work has revealed similar patterns of gene regulation in the hippocampus (Vecsey et al., 2012). Thus, the general consensus is that sleep promotes mRNA translation, while extended wakefulness caused by sleep deprivation negatively impacts

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 23 clusters of genes critical for translational processes, including those known to be essential for memory encoding and consolidation; this has been known for decades (Ramm and Smith, 1990). Extending these findings, recent work in the cortex has demonstrated that sleep-dependent consolidation of visual experience also involves the regulation of protein translation, similar to that observed in studies of the impact of sleep deprivation on hippocampal function (Seibt et al., 2012). In Alzheimer’s disease, the hippocampus is one of the first regions of the brain to suffer damage, some of the early symptoms being memory loss and disorientation. Damage to the hippocampus can also result from oxygen starvation (hypoxia), encephalitis, or medial temporal lobe epilepsy. All these functions are affected during sleep in one form or another. It is generally agreed upon that the hippocampus plays an important role in the formation of new memories about experienced events (Squire and Schacter, 2002). Part of this function is hippocampal involvement in the detection of novel events, places and stimuli (VanElzakker et al., 2008). However, it is still unclear as to how memories of dreams are deciphered from memories of real events and the research on this topic is still at a preliminary stage (Marzano et al., 2011). The process is further complicated due to the fact that the hippocampus is often considered as a part of a larger medial temporal lobe memory system responsible for general declarative memory, leaving room for further confusion among dream memory, declarative memory (memories that can be explicitly verbalized) and episodic memory. When one studies, for instance, anterograde amnesia (inability to form and retain new memories) due to bilateral hippocampal damage, some clues are found as to the complexity of the process. Sleep deprivation plays a similar role by reducing the synthesis of proteins needed to support synaptic plasticity. Recently, Havekes et al. (2012) reviewed the process. In the search for tangible correlation between tangible features of the human brain and the uniqueness of humans, a more rigorous discussion will appear in later sections, but here we’ll examine some of the most dominant theories. The most tangible feature of a brain is its mass. In brain mass, though, sperm whales lead the animal kingdom. Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) have the largest known brain mass of any extant animal, averaging 7.8 kg in mature males. (NOAA, 2016). Washington University (website 1) compiled data on brains of various species. Table 2.1 shows these data on adult as well as newborn. It appears that humans have the lowest infant adult ratio of the brain mass. As a child grows, brain size grows at a high pace until puberty. The majority of mammals are born with a brain close to 90% of the adult

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Table 2.1 Average brain mass of various species at infancy and adulthood. Species

Weight (g)

Species

adult human

1,300–1,400 newborn human

Weight (g) 350–400

sperm whale

7,800

fin whale

6,930

elephant

4,783

humpback whale

4,675

gray whale

4,317

killer whale

5,620

2,738

pilot whale

bowhead whale bottle-nosed dolphin Pithecanthropus Man

1,500–1,600 walrus 850–1,000

2,670 1,020–1,126

camel

762 582

giraffe

680

hippopotamus

leopard seal

542

horse

532

polar bear

498

gorilla

465–540

cow orangutan

425–458 370

chimpanzee

420

California sea lion

363

manatee

360

tiger

lion

240

grizzly bear

234

pig

180

jaguar

157

sheep

140

baboon

137

dog (beagle)

72

rhesus monkey

90–97

263.5

aardvark

72

beaver

45

shark (great white)

34

shark (nurse)

32

cat

30

porcupine

25

squirrel monkey

22

marmot

17

rabbit

10–13

platypus

9

alligator

8.4

squirrel

7.6

opossum

6

flying lemur

6

fairy anteater

4.4

guinea pig

4

ring-necked pheasant

4.0

tree shrew owl rat (400 g body weight) elephant shrew

hedgehog

3.35

3

fairy armadillo

2.5

2.2

grey partridge

1.9

hamster

1.4

house sparrow

1.0

2 1.3

european quail

0.9

turtle

0.3–0.7

bull frog

0.24

viper

0.1

goldfish

0.097

green lizard

0.08

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 25 weight. Humans are born with 28% of the adult weight, chimpanzees with 54%, bottlenose dolphins with 42.5%, and elephants with 35%. Overall, aging does not have significant impact on the tangible ability of the brain. This is further supported by the fact that most brain activities involve fueling involuntary actions – actions that are part of universal order and are beyond the control of an individual. In 2008, Du et al. reported that two-thirds of the brain’s energy budget is used to help neurons or nerve cells “fire’’ or send signals. The remaining third, however, is “housekeeping,” or cell-health maintenance, which is remarkably constant over time, when corrected for aging. Despite these well-known facts about the brain’s large energy budget, a clear understanding of how it is apportioned among the many ongoing functional processes in neurons and glial cells has not been clearly spelled out. Even more importantly, there is no way to find out if that budget apportioning has evolved with time. While the advent of modern imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the functions of the living human brain in both health and disease has made it easier to observe brain activities in relation to body functions, there is little hope of using this data to determine if there is any pattern in evolution of human brains. For the moment, all measurements are limited to observing the metabolism and circulation of the brain in order to draw inferences about brain functions. Smith et al. (2002) as well as Hyder et al. (2002) reported ground-breaking studies on the relationship between brain energy metabolism and cellular activity. They unveiled new insights into the manner in which both neuroimaging and neurophysiological techniques are employed to probe the functions of the human brain. These studies combined magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) techniques with the extracellular recording of neuronal activity in the cerebral cortex of the anesthetized rat. With MRS, the investigators were able to assess changes in brain oxygen consumption as well as changes in the flux of the excitatory amino acid glutamate, the brain’s primary excitatory transmitter during somatosensory stimulation. These MRS measurements were complemented by measurements of the change in neuronal activity (i.e., spike frequency, or cell firing rate in this instance) during somatic sensory stimulation. The experimental strategy used two levels of anesthesia (i.e., deep and shallow) designed to achieve two different levels of baseline activity to which stimulus-induced changes could be related. Together with other work, it also lends considerable support to conceptualization of the instantiation of functional processes themselves. While the data are useful, the analysis is extremely myopic. Consider the fact that

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the same set of data could be used to conclude that instantiation of the information is the core of the problem, which doesn’t become apparent due to the lack of a process or a standard that can be used as a bifurcation criterion. Brain activation constitutes a unique feature within human metabolism itself. To start with, blood flow and oxygen consumption are related to each other in the human brain differently from any other part of the body. This relationship is striking for its spatial consistency. It can be measured quantitatively with PET as the fraction of available oxygen used by the brain. This measurement is usually referred to as the oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) and represents the balance between oxygen delivery (i.e., blood flow) and oxygen consumption. Researchers have come to appreciate the spatial uniformity of the OEF measured in a resting state (e.g., lying quietly in a scanner with eyes closed but awake) when ongoing metabolic activity is relatively constant (Gusnard & Raichle, 2001). This spatial uniformity in the OEF exists despite considerable variation in the ongoing oxygen consumption and blood flow within gray matter and an almost fourfold difference between gray and white matter in both oxygen consumption and blood flow. This relationship is altered to a measurable degree in the normal brain only when areas briefly change their activity (i.e., so-called “activations”) during specific behaviors (Fox et al., 1988; Blomqvist et al., 1994). The signal used to map activations in the brain with PET or fMRI is based on local changes in blood flow. It has been known for more than a century that increased neuronal activity in a region of the brain is associated with an increase in blood flow (Raichle, 2000). New information, however, lies within the findings that these changes in blood flow are accompanied by significantly smaller changes in oxygen consumption. As a result, the local blood oxygen content follows closely the change in brain activity because the amount of oxygen supplied increases more than the demand. This phenomenon has been of great practical value in enabling us to view changes in brain activity with fMRI because aspects of the MR signal intensity are sensitive to the amount of oxygen carried by hemoglobin (Raichle and Gusnard, 2002). Whereas oxygen consumption increases less than blood flow, glucose utilization appears to increase in proportion to the change in blood flow (Ueki et al., 1988). Ueki et al. and subsequent researchers suggest that functional activation after ischemia does not induce any measurable alterations of the energy state of the tissue, although glucose utilization and blood flow are no longer coupled to the evoked electrical activity. Postischemic disturbance of functional performance of the brain, therefore, cannot be related to a mismatch between the energy requirements and energy availability in

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 27 the tissue. Therefore, the increase in metabolism accompanying brain activation is, in part, an increase in glycolysis, which is now thought to occur in astrocytes related to a transient increase in glutamate cycling (Logothetis et al., 2001). Thus, brain activation distinguishes itself from ongoing brain metabolism in a unique qualitative manner, with blood flow and glucose utilization increasing more than oxygen consumption. There have been many efforts to correlate brain size as the indicator of a distinct trait of humanity. We covered this aspect in Volume 2 of this book series (Islam et al., 2016). Recent work has extended the same theme to include genetics. Fedrigo et al. (2011) investigated a family of genes that influence the movement of glucose into cells to be used as energy. One member of the gene family was found to be active in brain tissue, whereas another is most active in muscle. If the size of the human brain required a metabolic trade-off between brain tissue and muscle, then these genes should behave differently in humans and chimpanzees. In order to test this hypothesis, these authors collected brain, muscle and liver samples from deceased humans and chimpanzees and attempted to measure gene activity in each sample. When a cell “expresses” a gene, it translates the DNA first into a signature messenger RNA (mRNA) sequence and subsequently into a chain of amino acids that forms a protein. Varying levels of distinct mRNAs can therefore provide a snapshot of gene activity in a particular type of tissue. They extracted mRNA from the tissues and amplified it many times over in the lab in order to measure the relative abundance of different mRNAs. They found that the brain-centric glucose-transporting gene was 3.2 times more active in human brain tissue than in the chimp brain, whereas the muscle-centric gene was 1.6 times more active in chimp muscle than in human muscle. Yet the two genes behaved similarly in the liver of both species. Theoretically, human and chimp gene sequences are nearly identical. Consequently, gene sequences cannot explain the difference between humans and chimpanzees. They discovered that in humans, but not in chimps, the regulatory sequences for the muscle and brainfocused glucose-transporting genes had accumulated more mutations than would be expected by chance alone, indicating that these regions had undergone a unique form of evolution. The human regulatory system is uniquely geared toward channeling energy from muscle to the brain. This being a dynamic process, such a distinctive feature cannot be derived from fossils. In that sense, this work is ground-breaking. A study by Bozek et al. (2015) reveals another aspect of metabolism. In addition to looking at gene expression, they analyzed levels of metabolites, a diverse group of small molecules that includes sugars, nucleic acids and neurotransmitters. Different organs have distinct metabolite profiles,

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depending on what they do and how much energy they require. In general, metabolite levels in the organs of closely related species are more in sync than levels between distantly related species. Bozek et al. (2015) found that the metabolite profiles of human and chimp kidneys were similar. However, the variation between chimp and human brain metabolite levels was four times higher than would be expected based on a typical rate of evolution; muscle metabolites differed from the expected levels by a factor of seven. These studies demonstrate that physical or tangible qualities cannot be used as a distinctive feature. In fact, pound per pound, humans are much weaker than their alleged fellow primates, such as chimpanzees. While they don’t tell the whole story, it is clear that brain activities or the ability to channel more energy to the brain forms the basis of unique features of humans. Boyd et al. (2015) reported results of trials involving scanning of human accelerated regions (HARs); these regulatory DNA sequences are common to all vertebrates but have rapidly mutated in humans. They decided to focus on HARE5, which seemed to control genes that orchestrate brain development. The human version of HARE5 differs from its chimp correlate by 16 DNA letters. They introduced the chimpanzee copy of HARE5 into one group of mice and the human edition into a separate group. They then observed how the embryonic mice brains grew. After nine days of development, mice embryos begin to form a cortex, the outer wrinkly layer of the brain associated with the most sophisticated mental talents. On day 10, the human version of HARE5 was much more active in the budding mice brains than the chimp copy, ultimately producing a brain that was 12 percent larger. Further tests revealed that HARE5 shortened the time required for certain embryonic brain cells to divide and multiply from 12 hours to nine. Mice with the human HARE5 were creating new neurons more rapidly. It is indeed tempting to correlate the human brain with the uniqueness of humanity. However, a few counter examples (such as elephants and whales) destroy this hypothesis. Table 2.2 shows both mass and number of neurons for certain species. The human brain has 86 billion neurons in all: 69 billion in the cerebellum, a dense lump at the back of the brain that helps orchestrate basic bodily functions and movement; 16 billion in the cerebral cortex, and one billion in the brain stem and its extensions into the core of the brain. In contrast, the elephant brain, which is three times the size of humans, has 251 billion neurons in its cerebellum and only 5.6 billion in its cortex. Considering brain mass or volume alone cannot account for these important distinctions. The study of Herculano-Houzel et al. (2007) has concluded that primates have a distinct way to pack far more neurons into the cerebral cortex

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 29 Table 2.2 (Data from Herculano-Houzel et al., 2007). Type

Brain mass (g)

Brain neurons (billion)

Neuron density (million/g)

Capybara (non-primate)

48.2

0.3

6.2

Rhesus Macaque (primate)

69.8

1.71

24

Western Gorilla (primate)

377

9.1

24

Human

1232

16.3

13

African Bush elephant

2848

5.59

2 1

False Killer Whales

1500

10.50

7

African elephant

5000

11.002

2.2

Fin whale

1700

15.003

8.8

Long-finned pilot whale

1800

37.20

4,5

20.67

1

Hofman and Falk, 2012 Hofman and Falk, 2012 3 Special report, 1978 4 Platek et al., 2009 5 Mortensen et al., 2014 2

than other mammals. The great apes are tiny compared to elephants and whales, yet their cortices are far denser. Orangutans and gorillas have 9 billion cortical neurons, and chimps have 6 billion. Yet, among all the primates, humans show a far more distinct feature in their neuron count with 16 billion neurons in the cortex. Tangibly, this is the most distinctive feature of humans and cannot be explained by evolutionary progress without resorting to dogma. As stated in a previous section, this neuron count also accounts for extra ordinary consumption of energy by the brain. Human brains consume 20 percent of the body’s total energy budget at rest. In contrast, the chimpanzee brain needs only half of that. Having the biggest brain has been on the forefront of human uniqueness for many decades. Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) have an absolute brain mass of 1500–1700 grams. This is slightly greater than that of humans (1300–1400 grams) and about four times that of chimpanzees (400 grams). The brain to body mass ratio gained some popularity in terms of defining the uniqueness of human brains. The brain to body mass ratio (as distinct from encephalization quotient) in some members of the odontocete superfamily Delphinoidea (dolphins, porpoises, belugas, and narwhals) is second only to modern humans, and greater than all other mammals. (There is debate whether that of the treeshrew might be

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Table 2.3 Data from Seid et al. (2011) and website 2. Species

Brain:body mass ratio (E:S)[2]

small ants

1:7[6]

tree shrew

1:10

small birds

1:14

mouse

1:40

human

1:50

cat

1:110

dog

1:125

squirrel

1:150

frog

1:172

lion

1:550

elephant

1:560

horse

1:600

shark

1:2496

hippopotamus

1:2789

second.) Dolphin brain mass is 1500 g in average for a body size of 50 kg. This is comparable to humans. Table 2.3 shows the brain-body mass ratio of a variety of species. By contrast, Encephalization quotient (EQ), or encephalization level, is a measure of relative brain size defined as the ratio between actual brain mass and predicted brain mass for an animal of a given size, which is hypothesized to be a rough estimate of the intelligence or cognition of the animal. The EQ varies widely between species. The La Plata dolphin has an EQ of approximately 1.67; the Ganges River dolphin of 1.55; the orca of 2.57; the bottlenose dolphin of 4.14; and the tucuxi dolphin of 4.56. In comparison to other animals, elephants have an EQ ranging from 1.13 to 2.36; chimpanzees of approximately 2.49; dogs of 1.17; cats of 1.00; and mice of 0.50. Until now, the mechanics of the human brain’s housing of a disproportionate number of neurons is shrouded in mystery. This could have given a clue as to the unique nature of human beings, but instead new scientists never ceased to use any evidence in support of the original premise that assumes humans are just another primate. For instance, the fact of having high density of neurons has been taken as a proof that humans have evolved into finding ways to support brains that are large enough to

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 31 accommodate all those extra cells. In this process, the question of what would be unique traits of humans has been reduced to a chicken and egg logical fallacy. When we see dolphins as extra ordinarily intelligent (as long as we agree what intelligence is), we explain that dolphins couldn’t be our ‘cousin’ because they don’t have hands. Similarly, when we see chimps and bonobos that can understand human language and even form simple sentences with touch-screen keyboards, we consider the fact that their vocal tracts are inadequate to produce the distinct series of sounds required for speech as the reason they are not humans. Similarly, when some birds have the right vocal anatomy to flawlessly mimic human speech, we use the size of their brains to dismiss their ability to be human. When we come across plant genomes that appear to be closer to humans than primates, we gasp at the inability of plants to walk upright. Overall, we fail to see what’s unique about humans. Researchers have also focused on brain density in order to find uniqueness in humans as well as other animals (Herculano-Houzel, et al., 2007). Figure 2.3 shows mass cerebral cortex as a function of number of neurons. Figure 2.3 shows neural density values for various species. Note that the plot in this figure is in log-log scale. The first bifurcation that takes place is between primates and non-primates. Non-primates show reasonable correlation (straight line in log-log plot) with a positive slope. While primates show remarkably higher density than non-primates, humans stand out as discontinuous from all other primates. Even though the log-log plot Mass of cerebral cortex (g) 1000

Humans

100 Non-primates 10

Primates

1 0.1 106

107

108

109

1010

1011

Number of neurons

Figure 2.3 Neuron density in brains of various species (Redrawn from Herculano-Houzel et al., 2007)

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creates an illusion that humans can be correlated with other primates, it is not the case. For instance, all other primates have much higher neuron density than non-primates, but humans have neuron density comparable to non-primates. The picture becomes more complex when marine mammals are inserted into this picture. Surprisingly, the analysis of variations in neuronal density across structures and species shows marked correlations, from which the primate and eulipotyphlan cerebellum and the primate cerebral cortex deviate as expected from the scenario described above. Neuronal densities in the cerebral cortex correlate uniformly with neuronal densities in the rest of brain across non-primate species, but primates have much higher neuronal densities in the cerebral cortex for the neuronal densities in the rest of their brain compared to the other clades. Collectively, these hypotheses and observations of modern anatomy are compelling. However, they are based on the echoes of biological changes that are thought to have occurred millions of years ago. None of these analyses explain convincingly what is unique about human brains or human species.

2.2.1.2 Cooking and Humanity Energy availability is a routine constraint on metabolic processes, including growth, disease suppression, and reproduction, and therefore, it is a key variable for human nutrition and survival. Cooking has long been recognized to increase the energy available from starch. Considering that the energy consumption by humans is uniquely large, it is conceivable that cooking or use of fire is related to unique traits of humans. In the cooking process, the role of meat is little understood. Because meat is nearly always eaten cooked, the contribution of meat cooking to human nutritional energetics is potentially great: meat and fish is the largest source of protein in all affluent countries and dependence on meat is growing rapidly among developing nations. It is expected that annual global consumption of meat will reach 376 million tons by 2030 (WHO, 2016). Even though New science dates the control of fire to 300,000–400,000 years ago, there is no evidence to back that claim. It is not unreasonable to assume that humanity is uniquely related to the use of fire and cooking is synonymous with humanity, just like conscience is. Eating raw meat is not a human trait and humanity cannot exist with that practice. However, cooking doesn’t necessarily mean the use of fire. For instance, sun-dried meat of fish are consumable and do pack enough energy in the protein even though fire has not been used. The mechanism involved in this energy processing

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 33 cannot be studied with conventional mass balance approaches because mass and energy balance are conducted separately without any considerable transformation of energy during the cooking process (Khan and Islam, 2012). This difficulty manifests itself in many forms. For instance, consider the standard Atwater system of energy assessment, which is based on measuring the total metabolizable nutrient content of an edible item (gross food energy content minus energy lost in urine, feces, secretions, and gases). This system finds that cooking tends to have minimal impact on meat energy value (Carmody et al., 2011). So, how can such an illogical conclusion be made? It’s because the Atwater system ignores potentially important effects, such as, heat-induced protein denaturation, loss of structural integrity, and deactivation of microbes are expected to increase meat energy value, whereas dripping loss, Maillard reactions, formation of protein covalent bonds, and toughening of muscle fibers should reduce it. The integrated effects of these mechanisms are unknown and can be understood only by studying consumer energy balance. In addition, to isolate the unique contributions of heat, the effects of cooking must be compared against the effects of non-thermal processing. At present, there is no scientific mechanism available to discern between the two processes, in absence of pathway analysis of entire meat processing. What is currently available are studies that show that cooking is not natural for species other than humans. Carmody et al. (2011) studied the effect of cooking on mice. They observed that cooking induces abnormal metabolic activities leading to excessive weight gain by the mice. It is reasonable to conclude that cooked food is not natural for non-humans. The energy budget in a human body is also an indicator of the unique status of humans. During rest, the calories are burned in powering the heart, the digestive system and especially the brain, in the silent work of moving molecules around within and among its 100 billion cells. A human body at rest devotes roughly one-fifth of its energy to the brain. This high rate of energy consumption is independent of the thought process. While this fact is used to correlate the unprecedented increase in brain size that hominids embarked on around 1.8 million years ago, we have shown in Volume 2 of this series that brain size cannot account for the uniqueness of humanity. Most anthropologists consider that the key breakthrough was adding meat to the diet, as though such addition would trigger the onset of a new species. However, Wrangham and his Harvard colleague Rachel Carmody consider that the addition of fire is the key because without added fire meat cannot provide for the unusual energy budget of humans. This line of research argues that cooking food is obligatory for humans as a result of biological adaptations and that cooking, in particular the consumption of cooked

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tubers, might explain the increase in hominid brain sizes, smaller teeth and jaws, and decrease in sexual dimorphism that occurred roughly 1.8 million years ago. Many anthropologists disagree with Wrangham’s ideas, pointing out that there is no solid evidence to support his claims (Gorman, 1999; Pennisi, 2007), the mainstream explanation being that human ancestors, prior to the advent of cooking, turned to eating meats, which then caused the evolutionary shift to smaller guts and larger brains (Aiello, 1997). However, they provide no logical explanation as to why humans are the only species that have such a voracious appetite for energy. Yet, energy budget is extremely important. The energy consumption volume as well the mechanism of energy use are the most distinctive traits of humans. In this, cooking is inherent to the unique energy budget feature of humans. Wrangham developed his theories about the indispensability of fire for the human species through his studies of chimpanzees with Jane Goodall at Gombe Stream National Park (see references of Wrangham et al. and Smuts et al.). In pursuing his research on primate nutrition he has sampled what wild monkeys and chimpanzees eat, and he finds it, by and large, repellent. The fruit of the Warburgia tree has a “hot taste” that “renders even a single fruit impossibly unpleasant for humans to ingest,” he writes from bitter experience. “But chimpanzees can eat a pile of these fruits and look eagerly for more.” Although he avoids red meat ordinarily, he ate raw goat to prove a theory that chimps combine meat with tree leaves in their mouths to facilitate chewing and swallowing. The leaves, he found, provide traction for the teeth on the slippery, rubbery surface of raw muscle. While he takes no position on the philosophical arguments for and against a raw-food diet, he points out that it can be quite dangerous for young children. For healthy adults, it’s “a terrific way to lose weight.” For Wrangham, humanity is about eating cooked food. It is literally possible to starve to death even while filling one’s stomach with raw food. In the wild, people typically survive only a few months without cooking, even if they can obtain meat. Wrangham cites evidence that urban raw-foodists, despite year-round access to bananas, nuts and other high-quality agricultural products, as well as juicers, blenders and dehydrators, are often underweight. Not withstanding the desirability of such body weight, it is alarming that in one study half the women on raw diet were malnourished to the point they stopped menstruating. They presumably were eating all they wanted, and may even be consuming what appeared to be an adequate number of calories, based on standard USDA tables. Overall, cooking outsources some of the body’s work of digestion so that more energy is extracted from food and less expended in processing it. More importantly, cooking makes sure that an overall energy/mass food

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 35 value is maintained at a high level. New science is incapable of quantifying the effect of cooking on human metabolism. It is because mass and energy balances are performed separately with the assumption that there is no exchange between mass and energy. We demonstrated in Volume 1 of this book series that energy consumption as well as the nature of energy should be factored in within the mass balance equation. Even in the absence of such rigorous analysis, we can look into cooking and how it facilitates the metabolic process. For instance, cooking breaks down collagen, the connective tissue in meat, and softens the cell walls of plants to release their stores of starch and fat. The saved calories can thus be used to fuel the tremendous need of the human brain. The trade-off between the gut and the brain is the key insight of the “expensive tissue hypothesis,” proposed by Leslie Aiello and Peter Wheeler in 1995. Wrangham credits this with inspiring his own thinking—except that Aiello and Wheeler identified meat-eating as the driver of human evolution, while Wrangham emphasizes cooking. Wrangham, with his hard-won experience in eating like a chimpanzee, tends to assume that—with some exceptions such as fruit—cooked food tastes better than raw. His entire premise is based on the assumption that humans prefer cooked food over raw food, with the exception of fruits and salad. It is clear that cooked food has more complex chemical compositions. In addition, if we can account for the energy that is embedded in cooked food, we discover something more than mere complexity of chemical composition. Energy is stored in the food and in return creates an appealing aroma that depends on the type of energy source used. For instance, a sundried fish would taste different from fish that is baked in a wooden stove or fried on oil, heated with electricity. The use of energy to process food before cooking may unlock the uniqueness of humans. However, professional peers of Wrangham’s object to the theory, mainly because new science had always assumed that fire was a discovery/mastery that is more recent than the emergence of Homo erectus. Because Homo erectus appeared roughly 1.8 million years ago and humans are believed to have originated 250,000 B.C., whereas ‘discovery’ of fire is assumed to be 350,000 years, in order for humans to be a continuity of the evolution chain, one must assume fire has nothing to do with uniqueness of humanity. More recent discovery of charred bone and primitive stone tools in a cave in South Africa tentatively pushed the time of emergence of Homo sapiens back to roughly one million years ago, closer to what Wrangham’s hypothesis demands but still short. Clearly, a number of premises behind this cynicism are questionable. For instance, there is no evidence that the arrival of Homo sapiens can be pegged. New science has a tendency of preserving dogmatic thinking and

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pegging numbers to hypothetical values. Similarly, it is illogical to peg a number to the ‘discovery’ of fire. Instead the focus should be the discovery of lifestyle that included deliberate and consistent cooking. For instance, Shimelmitza et al. (2014) reported the frequent occurrence of burnt flints from a 16-m-deep sequence of archaeological deposits at Tabun Cave, Israel, that matched data from the broader Levantine archaeological record, demonstrating that regular or habitual fire use developed in the region between 350,000 and 320,000 years ago. They argue while hominins may have used fire occasionally for some million years, consistent use of fire for cooking became part of a species only in the second part of the Middle Pleistocene. This analysis indeed supports that use of fire for cooking is a unique trait of humans. Logically, this trait is needed for the survival of humans, so they can keep up with their energy budget, which is very high due to extra ordinary energy requirement for functioning of the brain. Doidge (2015) attempted to explain unique features of the human brain, albeit limiting the ‘miracles’ of human brains to neuroplasticity. He presented case histories, involving hundreds of observations about a few people. He responds to the critiques that continue to question the statistical validity of such observations by quoting neuroscientist Vilayanur S Ramachandra (of University of California, San Diego), who said; “Imagine I cart a pig into your living room and tell you that it can talk. You might say, ‘Oh really? Show me.’ I then wave my wand and the pig starts talking. You might respond, ‘My God! That’s amazing!’ You are not likely to say, ‘Ah, but that’s just one pig. Show me a few more and then I might believe you”. So, would you spend time looking for more pigs or study the pig that has shown you that the impossible might now be possible? What in essence Doidge brings up is the helplessness of new science in logically describing natural phenomena involved in healing of the brain. Not withstanding the reluctance of the scientific community, Doidge describes how the brain is rarely permanently damaged when broken, but has the unique ability to repair and rewire itself. In Doidge’s first book, The Brain That Changes Itself, he introduced the idea that the brain has plastic properties. His second book, The Brain’s Way of Healing, focuses on how brains damaged from birth or by illness or injury can gain or regain some or all cognitive and motor functionality through neuroplasticity. Most extraordinary is the notion that a person is capable of giving instruction to the affected brain (an example being: “disconnect the network, shrink the map” whenever pain emerges). This conclusion has tremendous implications for practically all ailments. In Volume 2 of this book series, we have established that all ailments have intangible sources. Doidge’s theory would indicate the remedy to ailments also lies with addressing the intangible aspects.

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 37 In support of his theory, Doidge (2015) presents the case study of John Pepper who, diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in his fifties, fiercely advocates exercise, predominately walking, as the most effective therapy. Pepper introduced the concept of “conscious walking” that, with singular concentration on sensory movement, engaging a healthy part of his brain, was instrumental in overcoming his debilitating symptoms. This is perhaps the first example of connecting such intangibles as conscience and consciousness to brain activities in order to facilitate or trigger healing. It’s not long ago that medical doctors frowned upon walking for Parkinson’s disease patients. Even now, the role of consciousness in healing is little understood, let alone promoted as an impetus to therapy. Remarkably, Doidge identifies the biggest problems of a damaged brain as “learned non-use” along with noise caused by dysrhythmias. In order to overcome this problem, he presented four stages of neuroplastic healing, namely, neurostimulation, neuromodulation, neurorelaxation, and neurodifferentiation. These stages can be used to ‘unlearn’ non-use of certain portions of the brain. Schuepbach et al. (2013) demonstrated that subthalamic stimulation was superior to medical therapy in patients with Parkinson’s disease and early motor complications. Neuromodulation has a similar effect on Parkinson’s disease (Beudel et al., 2015). They discovered the validity of the principle that the subthalamic local field potential is a rich signal that may contain information about the severity of multiple different Parkinsonian features. How these signals that, according to new science, carry no mass with them make a difference cannot be explained and the authors make no effort to do so. For neurorelaxation, the focus has been the use of artificial stimulants. For instance, the literature is rife with examples of nicotine as a stimulant (Ozturk et al., 2010). Pluripotent stem cells such as human embryonic stem (hES) cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells contain plasticity to generate NSCs, expressing signature features of neuroepithelia, neuronal morphology and functionality for disease modeling and therapeutic purposes with potential capacity for clinical management of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Neurodifferentiation is useful for investigation of mechanisms involving human trophoblast stem cell-derived neural stem cells that can be used for neurobiological study, drug discovery, and as an alternative source of cell-based therapy in neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease (Tsai et al., 2015). The main focus of this study has been neural stem cell research. Another example that Doidge features is that involving Fred Khan, a general and vascular surgeon, who chose to be treated by a chiropractor using his “Russian laser”, a low-intensity light treatment, on his injured shoulder. Of course this was nothing short of a miracle because new

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science doesn’t allow for a smooth transition between low-intensity light and laser. Had this been a laser therapy, it wouldn’t have become an event. For instance, Ridner et al. (2013), as well as Gouvea de Lima et al. (2012), reported cancer treatment with laser therapy. Ridner et al. (2013) reported a large study on laser therapy of cancer as an alternative treatment. Similarly, Baroni et al. (2015) reported the use of laser therapy for muscle adaptation, whereas Malliaropoulos et al. (2011) and Steffens et al. (2011) reported success in healing back pain. The laser therapy not only found applications in treating pain relief (Santos et al., 2012), it found applications as wide as hearing loss treatment (Tamura et al., 2015). Doidge also introduces the highly influential Mosche Feldenkrais, “physicist, black belt, and healer”, who had been working on French atomic secrets with Nobel Prize winners Frederic and Irene Joliot-Curie before he fled the Nazi invasion and travelled to England. The lab he left behind had just split an atom of uranium and generated nuclear power. Feldenkrais’s methods have been adopted and adapted to use different forms of energy to try to stimulate, awaken, and rewire the brain. Well ahead of any theory that could explain why such energy manipulation can make a tangible impact on the human brain, these techniques remained in use. Similarly, Paul Maudale, himself a patient and student of Alfred Tomatis, inventor of the Electronic Ear, uses music (mostly Mozart) and sensory stimulation to help children with learning difficulties, or those on the autistic spectrum, achieve developmental milestones.

2.3 Aristotle’s Definition of Humans Aristotle occupies a significant position in modern philosophical thought, dominated by European thinkers. Before defining humanity, let’s first review the word ‘definition’. In European culture, Aristotle was the first to note that any definition must have something general and something specific that are linked to major and minor premises (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2016). Aristotle designated these two components the genus and species of a definition. Thus one might define human this way: A human is an animal (genus) that is rational (species). This is akin to laying out major and minor premises of a logical starting point. Or one could simply say: Humans are rational animals. Aristotle’s species component of a definition is sometimes referred to by the Latin word, differentia. And so, in definition, we have a general statement about a word accompanied by a differentia. Hence this too might be considered a definition of human (though perhaps not a good one): A

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 39 human is an animal that laughs. The reason a laughing animal is not quite as good a definition of the human as a rational animal is that one seems more essential to being human than the other. Or, at least, one could argue this. Aristotle’s own definition for the human was “political animal.” He believed that the most essential differentia about humans was their cultural behavior—their collective life in the polis (the city). From this point onward, it all becomes a matter of conjecture. It often follows that humans are defined as: self-aware social mammals generally possessing the ability to reason, speak, and use complex tools. It is commonly understood that Aristotle viewed rationality as the most important distinguishing feature of humans from other animals. The very recognition that humans have rational principles that make for ethics that are beyond instinctual guidelines implies the acceptance of purpose behind this rationality. The same unique feature of humanity is manifested in ‘deliberative imagination’ in De anima III. In the translation by Christopher D. Green (York University) of De anima III, it is said, “Those who distinguish parts in the soul, if they distinguish and divide in accordance with differences of power, find themselves with a very large number of parts, a nutritive, a sensitive, an intellective, a deliberative, and now an appetitive part; for these are more different from one another than the faculties of desire and passion.” Of course, having the ability to use rational thought doesn’t necessarily imply that people would always use rational thought before acting. What is important is the recognition that humans are uniquely capable of participating in that conscientious thought. Similar to Aristotle, the Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry defined man as a “mortal rational animal”, and also considered animals to have a (lesser) rationality of their own. It is not clear why any philosopher would use the word ‘mortal’ for describing humans. Because every living creature is subject to death, the use of ‘mortal’ is redundant and can highlight the possible conflation with legends of gods or immortal entities. This has no scientific merit. Even then, Porphyry collided with the Roman Catholic Church establishment. A quotation attributed to him states, “The gods have proclaimed Christ to have been most pious, but the Christians are a confused and vicious sect.” This narration of Christ as well as that of Daniel are in line with the Islamic claim that all prophets are humans and their piety is the reason for their distinctive status in the eyes of God. Not withstanding the invocation of God, both Aristotle and Porphyry advance the same notion that rationality sets humans apart from other living creatures. This definition of man as a rational animal has permeated common scholastical philosophy. Even the Catholic Encyclopedia states: “in the system

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of classification and definition shown in the Arbor Porphyriana, man is a substance, corporeal, living, sentient, and rational”. As we discussed in Volume 1 of this book series (Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering), it was the Roman Catholic Church that injected irrationality into human cognition through the introduction of the theme of the Trinity, and later the concept of ‘original sin’. We also argued that philosophers from the Enlightenment era were no different from the philosophers of the Roman Catholic Church. As an example, one can cite Descartes who advanced his famous but categorically unscientific claim, “I think, I exist”. He then goes on to wonder “What am I?” He considers and rejects the scholastic concept of the “rational animal,” and that he does without any rational explanation, as he continues: “Shall I say ‘a rational animal’? No; for then I should have to inquire what an animal is, what rationality is, and in this one question would lead me down the slope to other harder ones.” Instead of pointing out the obvious false assumption of Descartes, Freud took it as an inability of humans to look at their weaknesses. Instead, Freud simply characterized the reluctance to seek explanation as too much “stress on the weakness of the ego in relation to the id and of our rational elements in the face of the daemonic forces within us”. Freud wasn’t religious enough to recognize that ‘daemonic force’ to be part of ‘original sin’. At the same time, he wasn’t ‘naturalist’ enough to introduce the so-called ‘original gene’ concept that has become the regurgitated version of the ‘original sin’ model (Islam et al., 2015). At the end, id is the set of uncoordinated instinctual trends; the super-ego plays the critical and moralizing role; and the ego is the organized, realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego. It is also expected that the super-ego can stop one from doing certain things that one’s id may want to do. The entire process of cognition or ‘thinking’ that makes humans unique is disconnected from conscience or a higher purpose of being. Neo-Kantian philosopher Ernst Cassirer, in his work An Essay on Man (1944), altered Aristotle’s definition to label man as a symbolic animal. This definition has been influential in the field of philosophical anthropology, where it has been reprised by Gilbert Durand, and has been echoed in the naturalist description of man as the compulsive communicator. Once again, inherent qualities of humans that enable them to think with a purpose (i.e., to think conscientiously) are not recognized and are in fact shunned. On the sociology side, another sinister plan was concocted. Sociologists in the tradition of Max Weber distinguish rational behavior (means-end oriented) from irrational, emotional or confused behavior, as well as from traditional-oriented behavior, but recognize the wide role of all the latter

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 41 types in human life. None of them speak of the purpose of life or its role in conscientious thought. Perhaps more importantly, none of them even wondered what role rationality plays in decision making, ranging from personal life to global politics. Ethnomethodology sees rational human behavior as representing perhaps 1/10 of the human condition, dependent on the 9/10ths of background assumptions which provide the frame for means-end decision making. However, none of it had any scientific backing nor was it free from grossly illogical assumptions. Philosophers reached a nadir when Bertrand Russell satirized the concept that man is rational, saying “Man is a rational animal — so at least I have been told. Throughout a long life I have been looked diligently for evidence in favour of this statement, but so far I have not had the good fortune to come across it.” The humor of his observation derives from an equivocation between describing mankind as rational (i.e., that all members of the species have the potential to think, whether that potential is realized or not) and describing an individual person as rational (i.e., the person actually can think well, avoid biases, make valid inferences, etc.) How is it possible that such giants of philosophical thought missed such an obvious yet logical description that a conscientious decision makes a person rational and his ability to cognize rationality can be obscured by his lust for short-term reward? We explained this behavior as the inability to move past the false premise, often characterized as cognitive dissonance or more dramatically noted as ‘vibrating on false premises’. These philosophers are almost intoxicated in their self-righteous hubris. The ancient Greek philosophy recognized the existence of soul but inaccurately connected soul to inherent human faculties, including rationality. It is not clear if this difficulty is because of the translations or are somehow related to dogmatic thinking that European philosophers never graduated from. It was clear in Plato’s writing that he recognized the existence of material body and immaterial mind. In scientific terms, it would be equivalent to recognizing tangible and intangible aspects of humanity (Islam et al., 2014). In Plato’s view, the intangible aspect is not fleeting, or not a function of time. In Arabic, the equivalent word ruh implies similar, if not identical meaning.2 In addition, Qur’an defines another term, nafs that represents both the material (transitional) and spiritual identity of any entity. Unlike

2 According to Qur’an 17:85, Ruh is described as the command of Allah, thus making it abstract and detached from material or transitory existence. It is a Majored (abstract and detached from material) being and a matter of Allah’s, and anything that is attributed and belongs to Allah is beyond time, place, matter or other physical limits.

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ruh, nafs applies to both humans and non-human living objects that are mortal or experience death. This form of ‘soul’ is claimed to be ‘perfected’ or ‘proportioned’.3 Aristotle recognized that living things include plants as well as human and non-human animals. The so-called vegetative structure was invoked to describe tangible functionality. Animals were believed to have this vegetative structure as well as a ‘sensitive’ structure, which is primarily responsible for interacting with the environment. The logic behind this characterization most likely lies within the fact that plants and trees don’t move and thus do not form an integral part of the environment. Aristotle drew the distinction of having an added structure, i.e., rational structure, in order to describe humans. This is in conformance with the idea that humans are the only rational animal. The authors do not see Plato’s and Aristotle’s views of humanity as a contrast. Not withstanding the acceptance of a soul, they both agree that there is a tangible and intangible component to humanity and humans are distinct from others for their rationality. Perhaps the most important contribution of Aristotle was that he recognized the role of tangibles in defining what can influence the intangibles. By recognizing this role, Aristotle in fact linked thoughts (rational or otherwise) to the environment, which includes the society. Thus the form of something does not exist independently; it is not an entity in itself. Rather it is the specific pattern or structure or form of a thing which defines how it exists and functions. Thus for Aristotle it makes no sense to talk of a soul or mind without a body, for the essence of a person is embedded and intertwined with their matter. We would see in latter sections of this book that the role of environment in defining thoughts is not trivial and has eluded most of the social scientists of the modern era. To some extent, Bronfenbrenner (1979) recogmized the same, but only in the context of child development. Philosophers have accorded an exception to what they viewed as Aristotle’s take on humanity by stating that divine intellectual functioning may take place without a body. This becomes a paradox if one draws a parallel with computers. For example even if computers ‘think’ without bodies their thought still depends on material components. The missing point here is that the thought process that makes humans unique is the connection to the ‘soul’ (ruh in Arabic) that is absolute and doesn’t change with the environment. That soul is inherently connected to true intangible or creator7. This was a known concept until the time of the Enlightenment,

3

Qur’an 91:7

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 43 at which point conflation between of fundamental features of the creator and that of creation was made, either inadvertently or deliberately. Ever since, thought process has been disconnected from the conscience, in turn disconnecting from the soul (ruh), thereby making the concept of disembodied thought a problematic one. Furthermore, Aristotle’s major distinction between rational component and emotional and desire components were taken as yet another paradox and in contradiction to Plato’s model. However, such contradictions do not arise if one considers desire-driven and conscientious thoughts as instinctive or short-term and long-term processes, respectively. Every human has the propensity to long for a shortterm solution or short-cut, but long-term success depends on how many conscientious decisions a person has made. Aristotle also held that humans are social and political creatures who have activities common to all. He also thought that we can only reach our full development in societies. This conclusion is not warranted unless there is a definite purpose to human lives. New science did little to look into the possibility of having a purpose, driven by higher conscience. Aristotle predates the ‘original sin’ dogma and it is not surprising that human ‘flaws’ do not form the core of Aristotle’s philosophy of humanity. The way Aristotle connects the purpose of life to long-term success (see Figure 2.4), it becomes clear that he endorsed the long-term approach. This Success/accomplishment Towards eternal bliss Long-term approach

1

1 Phenomenal start, with phenomenal intention 2 Aphenomenal start and/or phenomenal intention

Time

2

Short-term approach

Towards eternal torment Failure

Figure 2.4 Success can be defined as the inevitable outcome of a long-term approach.

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is in line with what we know of Confucianism or Buddhism. However, new science doesn’t recognize the fact that Islam, one of the three so-called ‘monotheist’ religions, is all about the long-term approach. In fact, Qur’an (79:38) talks about the short-term approach (spiraling downward) as the one that leads to the life of eternal torment. Aristotle repeatedly refers to the underlying objective of all actions, the objective being ‘eudaimonia’ (Greek: εὐδαιμονία). This word is commonly translated as happiness or welfare; however, “human flourishing” has been proposed as a more accurate translation. Etymologically, ‘eudaimonia’ consists of the words “eu” (“good”) and “daimōn” (“spirit” or “soul”). This objective is central to the concept of morality and ethics in Aristotelian work4 that uses this objective as the impetus “aretē”, most often translated as “virtue” or “excellence”, and “phronesis”, often translated as “practical or ethical wisdom”. In Aristotle’s works, eudaimonia was (based on older Greek tradition) used as the term for the highest human good, and so it is the aim of practical philosophy, including ethics and political philosophy, to consider (and also experience) what it really is, and how it can be achieved. Once again, this is entirely consistent with the Qur’anic narration of virtues and ‘sins’. For instance, Qur’an 49:13 states that the source of righteousness is ‘taqwa’, a term used to show consciousness of the creator and the creator’s prescribed purpose designated for mankind, who can then seek guidance from the Qur’an (2:2).5 This stance for humanity and purpose of life is starkly different from Christian dogma that sees a child in a state of sin and although people can commit further sins, there is no criterion that dictates the nature of virtues. One the other hand, both Hinduism and Buddhism retained the original concept that has been supported by Qur’anic narration (Islam et al., 2016; Islam, 2017). They both recognize that every action is itself a phenomenon forming part of the objective conditions. Every action is, however, preceded by an intention that forms part of the subjective conditions. For instance, the relationship between chetna (inspiration) and karma (deed) was outlined in the Mahabharat and in the scripts of Buddha. The most famous saying of the Prophet Muhammad—and the first cited in the collection of Bokhari’s collection of Hadiths—is that any deed is evaluated based on its intention (niyah in Arabic). A review of human history reveals

4 New science doesn’t use the term ‘morality’ but scientifically morality and ethics are the same (Islam, 2017). 5 The word Qur’an literally means collection of deductions, the root ‘iqra’ meaning ‘to deduce’.

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 45 that the perpetual conflict between good and evil has always been about opposing intentions. The good has always been characterized by the intention to serve a larger community, thereby assuring the long term of an individual, while evil has been characterized as the intention to serve selfinterest. This is entirely consistent with Aristotle’s take on humanity. Aristotle also subscribed to the notion that nature is perfect, and both animate and inanimate objects function perfectly. It follows that the tangible part of humans falls under the universal order and is independent of their control. However, humans also have intellect or rationality. It’s this rationality and its practical application that make humans unique. Humans are capable of drawing upon their experience and blend with their inherent qualities, such as temperance, courage, sense of justice and numerous other virtues. Creating a balance between various extremes is the objective of a successful person. In his words, these virtues are “the mean between the extremes.” A life of virtue is the ideal for human life. This is entirely consistent with the Islamic standard of public governance and rule of engagement in foreign policies (Islam, 2016).6 In contrast to the state of virtue comes the state of vice, which necessarily involves a short-term approach. Plato as well as Aristotle understood this ‘vice’ as something driven by desire, which is inherent. It’s not because of the propensity to sin (similar to what is stated as ‘original sin’), it is rather because humans have this inherent weakness to take the shortcut, which leads to deciding on a short-term approach. Qur’anic principles describe this notion as being a test, which is inherent to the purpose of life for all humans.7 Every such test has both an individual and political component. Figure 2.5 shows how the balance between individual liberty and regulatory control is made, corresponding to the two extremes of the Qur’an. At the end, what we have is optimization of two contrasting trends. If regulatory control is increased, one is not expected to have any accountability and a test loses its meaning. On the other hand, if individual liberty is excessive, then it leads to anarchy and, at the same time, accountability skyrockets, making it impractical for humans to survive the tests with their limited ability. The intersection of these two graphs represents the optimum that in Aristotle’s word is the ‘middle of the extremes’ and ‘Ummatul wassata’ (the group of middle path) in the Qur’an.

6

Qur’an 2:143 states: And thus we have made you a ‘middle ground’ (wasata) community that you will be witnesses over the people and the Messenger will be a witness over you… 7 [He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed - and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving (Qur’an 67:2).

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering Regularity control Totalitarianism

Accountability

Anarchy Individual liberty

Figure 2.5 Good behaviors in humans lie within optimum regime of individual liberty.

Human behaviors, therefore, are subject to conscious awareness of individual liberty and social responsibility, both being governed by an external standard, which is known as divine injunction. Not withstanding false claims of divinity, this standard is essential to human good behavior, and without such standards, there is no ground for any discussion of the purpose of life, morality or even a consistent set of ethics. According to Aristotle, political science is the science that studies the good for humans. This leads us to Aristotle’s conception of government and society. In brief, Aristotle believed that societies can only survive and flourish if there is some basic agreement about issues of private morality. This notion, however, cannot move further wihout clarifying what standard must be applied to define morality (Islam, 2016a). European post-Thomas Aquinas philosophers showed little interest in determining what standard applies to define morality. Instead, they moved toward putting themselves as the standard, irrespective of their non-secular (e.g., John Locke) or secular (e.g., Thomas Hobbes) stand (Islam, 2016a). This notion has permeated U.S. socio-political culture, resulting in such paradoxes as allowing individual moral and religious pluralism while claiming that the United States was founded on certain Judeo-Christian values. We have demonstrated in Volume 1 of this book series that none of these notions has any scientific footing and is not amenable to historical accuracy.

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 47 Today, it is commonly stated that Aristotle’s notion of ideal life involves more thrust toward honor and intellectual reflection than to seeking pleasure, in order to reach some sort of superiority. While modern philosophers recognized that this notion is in conformance with Plato’s, few if any have sought out consistency in this approach. For instance, if the purpose of life is determined a priori, which would then turn intellectual reflection into conscientious participation in any physical activity (other than involuntary reaction to stimulants), the entire process of seeking ‘good’ becomes synonymous with activities that are originated with a good intention. The previous picture (Figure 2.3) then becomes entirely consistent and the intersection between the two graphs becomes the optimum of any ‘good’ lifestyle that conforms with the purpose of life. This narration, presumes, of course, that humans are in full control of their intention as long as they are conscious, emotionally mature, and sane (Islam, 2014). At this point, it’s worth noting that Aristotle defined happiness as a goal that is achieved by exercising good virtue over the course of one’s lifetime. In other words, being able to truly make an intention of doing long-term good, one can achieve happiness in the short term as well as the long term. The connection between the purpose of life and making the intention to meet the purpose of life with happiness was recognized by Aristotle in no uncertain terms. He said, realizing one’s own capabilities by intellectually considering the substance of one’s happiness is the first step to achieving happiness. As Figure 2.6 serves to illustrate, in much of the world not informed by the Eurocentric standpoint, “happiness” really stands for an end-point, a destination, rather than some all-consuming appetite to be fed continually regardless of actual need, the driver for building and maintaining the “economy” as an engine for producing ever-mounting piles of waste (Zatzman and Islam, 2007). It then follows that a person would face numerous challenges and has to strike a balance between the passions of long-term thoughts and the temptations of short-term desires. The long-term decisions bring both short-term and long-term goods to the society but most often bring only long-term good to the person. Every long-term decision will have a shortterm negative consequence. Zatzman and Islam considered that struggle between two opposing forces in terms of spending money in charity. Word

Arabic

Root

Meaning

Happiness

Sa’ada

Sa’d

Destiny

Figure 2.6 Origins of the Arabic word for “happiness” – a non-Eurocentric view.

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Consider the long-term investment concept as illustrated in Figure 2.7. The outstanding feature of this figure is that endowments and charitable giving in which there is no return to the investor – not even an “incentivized” kickback in the form of a deduction on the investor’s income tax liability – generate the highest rate of return for the longest investment term. In effect, the more social and less self-centred the intention of the investor, the higher the return. So, every act of charity must overcome the short-term desire to spend the money, say, on another luxury gadget or another dessert that will likely make worse an existing habit of overeating. When that temptation is overcome, both the society and the long-term interests of the person investing will benefit greatly.

Rate of return

Charity food

Charity shelter

Endowment

Retirement savings

Education fund

Savings account

Duration of investment term

Figure 2.7 Maximizing the Rate of Return on Investments for Others – This figure illustrates one prospect that becomes practically possible if intangible benefits are calculated into, and as part of, a well-known conventional treatment of investment capital that was developed initially to deal purely with tangible aspects of the process and on the assumption that money would normally be invested only to generate a financial return to its investor (From Zatzman and Islam, 2007).

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 49

Business turnover >

Economics of intangibles trendline

Conventional economics, i.e., capital-dependent, trendline

Trustworthiness / Happiness

Figure 2.8 Sensitivity of business turnover to employer-employee trust – Under a regime guided by the norms of capital-dependent conventional economics, trustworthiness counts for nothing. Under an economic approach that takes intangibles into account, on the other hand, revenue growth in an enterprise should be enhanced.

This line of analysis changes the paradigm of economic considerations entirely. Furthermore, as illustrated in Figure 2.8, it is inherently reasonable to anticipate improved revenue performance for the enterprise that can bank on employer-employee trust. At a personal level, it means, if we can increase our activities that are motivated by long-term gains, we would be able to increase our happiness at this moment as well as in the long term.

2.4 Cognitive Process in Humans We have seen in the previous section that taking the long-term approach is the essence of humanity. However, taking a conscious decision to take the long-term approach requires conscientious thinking, which would presume full ownership of intention. Such ownership is not gained until mental maturity among young adults and also fades away at an older age in the case of dementia. Figure 2.9 depicts how full ownership of intention is achieved at puberty or mental maturity whereas it disappears anytime we lose consciousness (including sleep time). During the pre-puberty period, we have a humanity model that’s not different from any other animal. Similarly at the elder stage, during periods of mental disability and phases of dementia, humans are fully subject to universal order and their accountability for their actions

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering Ownership of intention

Periods of accountability 1

Intermittent drop to zero

0

Puberty

Age induced dementia

Age

Figure 2.9 Ownership of intention as a function of time.

is nil. Of course, the acquisition of ownership of intention or the loss of it is not abrupt. The moment a person can access his or her conscience and decide based on long-term considerations because it is the ‘right thing to do’ is the moment that one begins to own his or her intention. Sleep periods, however, are abrupt. The moment a person dozes off and becomes unconscious of the tangible phenomena surrounding him, the person loses ownership of his or her actions and hence cannot be held accountable for actions. In terms of human cognition, early childhood models offer an excellent avenue to study what is natural for humans, in the absence of ownership of intentions. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) has gained considerable attention from around the world, particularly the countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Flanagan and Beach (2010) summarized many projects and initiatives in Canada in order to revamp the ECEC programs, among others (Friendly, 2007). It is being recognized that if the current education system is to regain its efficacy, one must revive the early childhood education program. In this section, existing models of childhood development and cognition stages are critically analyzed. Three main models reviewed include two cognitive development models (Piaget, 1936; and Vygotsky, 1962), and a system model (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). The two cognitive development models are opposite to each other in terms of fundamental premises (Agbenyega, 2009; Fleer, 2011). Also reviewed is a relatively recent model for the education curriculum. This model (Islam et al., 2013a) treats human thought

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 51 material (HTM) as a comprehensive function of root and environment, thereby combining previous models that have been popular for decades. This model, termed ‘nature-science’ model by the authors, is akin to the so-called inclusive education model that is aimed at considering children as valuable assets, thereby transforming schools so that they value individual children with diverse needs and abilities, including children with disability as well as those with high performance records (Downing and Peckingham-Hardin, 2007). Only recently it has come to light that the cognition process effects physical changes in the brain while being affected by the environment. The science of neuroplasticity tells us that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains. The idea was first introduced by William James in 1890 (Doidge, 2007). However, similar to other hard science theories, Atomists that considered the brain to be rigidly mapped out with various parts controlling different functions rejected this theory. Today, neuroplasticity enjoys wide acceptance as scientists are proving the brain is endlessly adaptable and dynamic (Islam et al., 2014a). The latest works involve determining the role of the environment in affecting the cognition process (Islam et al., 2014a, 2014b). Thought process has the power to change the structure of the brain and can invoke neurological changes. This has several implications. For instance, people with problems such as strokes, cerebral palsy, and mental illness can train other areas of their brains through repetitive mental and physical activities. For children, the repeating patterns of these changes in a growing brain can affect both short-term behavior and long-term cognition capability. Repetitive positive thoughts and positive activity can rewire the brain and strengthen brain areas that stimulate positive feelings that will have long-term implications. For children, such repetitive thought material8 can lead to common growth cycles in behavior and in the brain-encyclical property. Recent research and theory in cognitive neuroscience have produced insights into how the development of the brain, especially the cerebral cortex, relates to thinking and learning. Doidge (2007) demonstrates that the brain has the capacity to rewire itself and/or form new neural pathways. Just like physical exercise, the work requires repetition and activity to reinforce new learning. It is well known that children are the fastest developing, both in terms of mental maturity and physical prowess. Without going into actual magnitude or absolute meaning of such change, it can be stated incontrovertibly

The term ‘Human thought material’ (HTM) was introduced by Islam et al., 2013 that considered HTM to be an integral part of the environment.

8

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that any organic system with the fastest change is the most difficult to assess. In terms of cognitive research, this has profound implications. This seemingly obvious statement has eluded many of the previous researchers, who invoked the notion that brain functions as well as human cognition can be modeled with linear equations, much like a computer. In fact, braincomputer similarity is at the core of many contemporary brain research projects (Wong and Jung, 2011; Grau et al., 2014). As late as May of 2015, an honorary degree was offered to Tom Mitchell, the creator of NELL (Dobbin, 2015). The fundamental premise of NELL being, a machine that can ask questions limited to the data it has collected is declared equal if not superior to human intelligence. The claim is: one day human computers will think like humans. This is not a difficult task considering the amount of robotization that is going on. Humans are literally taught to think like computers. This conflation of human brain and computer was detected by Islam et al. (2010). Table 2.4 elaborates fundamental differences between computer and brain. As mentioned before, the fact that a brain works entirely differently from a computer is a relatively new discovery. In fact, only novel expert systems have attempted to embody human intelligence as opposed to artificial intelligence (Islam et al., 2016a). Interestingly, non-European cultures had a very different outlook on solving mathematical problems and general cognition. For instance, based on Chinese abacus and quipu (Latin American ancient tribe), Ketata et al. (2006, 2007a, 2007b, 2007c) developed the first generation of expert systems without using the conventional computer counting system. These expert systems provided the basis of an intelligent, robust, and efficient computing tool. Intangibles, which essentially include the root and pathway of any phenomenon, make the science suitable for increasing knowledge, as opposed to increasing confidence in a conclusion that is inherently false (Zatzman and Islam, 2007a). Zatzman and Islam (2007b) introduced the following syllogism to make this point about the science of intangibles: All Americans speak French [major premise] Jacques Chirac is an American [minor premise] Therefore, Jacques Chirac speaks French [conclusion-deduction]

If, in either the major or minor premise, the information relayed above is derived from a scenario of what is merely probable (as distinct from what is actually known), the conclusion, which happens to be correct in this particular case, would be not only acceptable as something independently knowable, but reinforced as something also statistically likely. This,

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 53 Table 2.4 Computer and Brain compared (from Islam et al., 2010). Element

Computer

Brain

Memory

Doubling every 12–18 months[Gordon Moor] Continuously degrading

Continuously Renewing Crystalized intelligence grows continuously Even fluid intelligence can grow with more research, i.e., observation of nature and thinking

Size

The bigger the better

No correlation

Thinking

Does not think. All computations are 1-to-1 correlation, between 0 and 1 (linearization of every calculation)

Fuzzy & Variable There is no one-to-one correlation involved

Decision

Based on one number (series)

Decision is through spontaneous or/and thinking.

Multitasks

No two tasks at the same time. Quick decision

Decision is made after fuzzy logical interpretation of the big picture.

Computation/Math Quantitative

Qualitative (intangible, Δt = ∞), nonlinear.

Limit

Limited by programmer

Unlimited

Energy Supply

110 volt converted to 3 volt. When works hard it is heated.

μ Volt, use glucose(biochemical energy) When human brain works hard it cools.

Hardware

Nothing good in it; all kind of heavy metals, non- degradable plastics, batteries, etc.

100% Degradable

Regeneration Time

Not applicable

Continuous regeneration

Functionality

Crashes, restart takes time, Never crashes, spontaneous, an insane computer is never stops. Insane humans never found. are those who do not make use of it.

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then, finesses determining the truth or falsehood of any of the premises, and, eventually, someone is bound to “reason backwards” to deduce the statistical likelihood of the premises from the conclusion! Indeed, this latter version, in which eventually all the premises are falsified as a result of starting out with a false assumption asserted as a conclusion, is exactly what has been identified and labeled elsewhere as the aphenomenal model (Khan et al., 2005b). How can this aphenomenal model be replaced with a knowledge model? Zatzman and Islam (2007a) emphasized the need of recognizing the first premise of every scientific discourse. They used the term “aphenomenality” (in contrast to truth or falsehood) to describe in general the non-existence of any purported phenomenon or of any collection of properties, characteristics or features ascribed to such a purported but otherwise unverified or unverifiable phenomenon. If the first premise contradicts what is true in nature, the entire scientific investigation will be false. Such investigation cannot lead to reliable or useful conclusions. Consider the following syllogism (the concept of “virtue” intended here is that which holds positive value for an entire collectivity of people, not just for some individual or arbitrary subset of individual members of humanity): All virtues are desirable. Speaking the truth is a virtue. Therefore, speaking the truth is desirable.

Even before it is uttered, a number of difficulties have already been built into this apparently non-controversial syllogism. When it is said that, “all virtues are desirable”, there is no mention of a time factor (pathway) or intention (source of a virtue). For instance, speaking out against an act of aggression is a virtue, but is it desirable? A simple analysis would indicate that unless the time is increased to infinity (meaning something that is desirable in the long run), practically all undesirable virtues (even giving out in charity requires austerity in the short term, defending a nation requires self-sacrifice – an extremely undesirable phenomenon in the short term). In the same way, if giving charity is a virtue, would that make giving away stolen goods a charity? Robin Hood may be an acceptable hero in the post-Renaissance culture, but is such a categorization scientifically grounded? Giving away stolen goods can be a virtue only if the history (time function) is obliterated. The third component is in the source or intention of an act. For instance, is giving away with the intention of recovering something in the future a virtue? Is helping an oppressor a virtue? This logic shows the need for highlighting both the source (intention) and

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 55 the pathway (time function going back to the origin) of an action in order to qualify it as a virtue. The scientifically correct reworking of this syllogism should be: All virtues (both intention and pathway being real) are desirable for time t approaching ∞. Speaking the truth is a virtue at all times. Therefore, speaking the truth is desirable at all times.

The outcome of this analysis is the complete disclosure of the source, pathway (time function), and final outcome (time t approaching ∞) of an action. This analysis can and does restore to its proper place the rational principle underlying the comparison of organic products to synthetic ones; free-range animals to confined animals; hand-drawn milk to machinedrawn; thermal pasteurization with wood fire compared to microwave and/or chemical Pasteurization ; solar heating compared to nuclear heating; use of olive oil compared to chemical preservatives; use of natural antibiotics compared to chemical antibiotics; and the rest of a long list of such artificial versus natural outcomes and pathways. When it comes to food or other matter ingested by the human body, natural components are to be preferred because we can expect that the source and pathway of such components, already existing in nature, will be beneficial (assuming non-toxic dosages of medicines and normal amounts of food are being ingested). Can we hold out such confidence when it comes to artificially simulated substitutes for the natural versions? The pathway of the artificial substitutes’ creation lies outside any process already given in nature—the most important feature of a food. With the science of tangibles, the outcome being the same (e.g., an apparently similar chemical composition of both the nature-sourced and artificially sourced food), provides the basis for asserting that there are no significant differences between the natural and the artificial. If the source and pathway were to be ignored, Hitler could be equated with George W. Bush as well as Stephen Harper, George Washington, etc., since they were all elected. With the science of intangibles, source and pathway are taken into account, blocking the way to such premature and counterfeit declarations. This is not to say there may not be ways to improve upon the best uses humans can make of whatever has already been given in the natural realm. If, however, any such improvements are to be sustainable — the only test of truth in nature being that which eventuates over the passage of time — they cannot simply substitute something “chemically identical” from the laboratory or the synthesizing cycle in a chemical plant, completely discounting or ignoring the source(s) and pathway(s) of the natural original.

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In this, if the time consideration is not time t approaching ∞, then the validity of any conclusion would depend on the intention. If the intention is not phenomenal (real or consistent with environmental sustainability), every conclusion will be aphenomenal. Here, there is only one phenomenal intention, which coincides with the true first premise. The first premise of a logical train (the process of scientific investigation) is equivalent to the intention of an individual act. An intention may properly be considered “phenomenal” if or when it is driven by conscience (Zatzman and Islam, 2007a). It can also be characterized as “good”, with similar applications as “for good”, alluding to the infinitely long term (Khan and Islam, 2007).

2.4.1 Stages of Human Cognition Children’s cognition offers an excellent prototype for studying natural cognition. However, before discussing children’s cognition, it is important to review theories of human intelligence at various stages of human lives. In general, many people claim that their intelligence seems to decline as they age; research, however, suggests that while fluid intelligence begins to decrease after adolescence, crystallized intelligence continues to increase throughout adulthood. Note that the division of intelligence into two different parts is an offshoot of new science. This division emerges from compartmental thinking that is a hallmark of Western philosophies (Islam et al., 2013a). However, the discussion of crystalized and fluid intelligence is important nevertheless, as will be seen in this section. One of the first papers on such division of intelligence was reported by Horn and Cattell (1967), who mentioned the concept of fluid and crystallized intelligence. Their theory suggests that human intelligence is composed of a number of different abilities that interact and work together to produce overall individual intelligence. They defined ‘fluid intelligence’ as “…the ability to perceive relationships independent of previous specific practice or instruction concerning those relationships.” In layman’s terms, it means creative thinking or perception that is not based on experience or previous learning. Crystallized intelligence, on the other hand, involves knowledge that comes from prior learning and past experiences. Situations that require crystallized intelligence include reading comprehension, use of case laws, and vocabulary exams. According to Knox (1977), “…they constitute the global capacity to learn, reason and solve problems that most people refer to as intelligence. Fluid and crystallized intelligence are complementary in that some learning tasks can be mastered mainly by exercising either fluid or crystallized intelligence.”

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 57 Fluid intelligence peaks in adolescence and begins to decline progressively beginning around age 30 or 40. Some argue that the decline starts sooner for people that engage in institutional learning (Islam et al., 2013a). Einstein famously said, “It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.” Ironically, this ‘curiosity’ is the essence of creativity, which drives fluid intelligence. Crystallized intelligence continues to grow throughout adulthood. The caveat here is that experience that is repetitive adds little to the crystalized intelligence. For instance, if a person is engaged in office work that involves performing the same task every day, his experience would be far less intellectually stimulating than even a bus driver who experiences different facts (or faces a fluid system) even though he performs the same task every day. From the early work of Horn and Donaldson (1980), Lansman et al. (1982), and Horn et al. (1982), there had been a consensus that both crystalized and fluid intelligence increase in the beginning but fluid intelligence starts to decline after a certain period of life. Donaldson et al. (1982) validated the Cattell-Horn theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence by surveying 91 college students. Their test was designed to measure four ability factors: fluid intelligence (Gf), crystallized intelligence (Gc), spatial visualization (Gv), and clerical perceptual speed (CPS). They also performed paper and pencil and computerized versions of three information processing tasks: mental rotations, letter matching, and sentence verification. Correlations among the ability measures, among the information processing measures, and between the two domains were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis. The four ability factors were found to be largely independent in this college population. On the other hand, mental rotation speed was strongly correlated with Gv; letter matching speed was correlated with CPS; and sentence verification speed was correlated with both Gc and CPS. Kaufman and Horn (1996) used a sample of 1,500 men and women, 17–94 years of age (13 age groupings). Using Multivariate Analysis of Variance and Covariance, it was found that four measures designed to indicate fluid reasoning (Gf) and the composite measure of Gf declined steadily over the entire adulthood period, the decline accelerating during the period beginning at about age 55. Also, four measures of crystallized knowledge (Gc) and the composite measure of Gc increased through the 20s, neither increased nor decreased through mid-adulthood until about age 60, and declined thereafter. For the composite measures of Gf and Gc, there were no main effects or interaction effects associated with Gender. When educational attainment was covaried, small but statistically significant Gender main effects were found for four of the subtest measures of Gf

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and Gc; significant Gender × Age interaction effects were found for two subtests. Interpreted within Gf-Gc theory, the results replicate and extend evidence of the adulthood development of cognitive capabilities. This study was the beginning of a series of new studies that drew sharp criticism from the general academic community. Islam et al. (2015) discussed this line of research and characterized it as being too focused on tangible aspects. For instance, they compared contemporary findings of new scientists, such as Philippe Rushton, with Aristotle’s perceptions that are often considered to be laughable. Note Rushton and his co-workers continued to publish ‘scientific’ work to demonstrate the inferiority of certain races and one gender (Rushton and Jensen, 2002, 2010; see Figures 2.10 and 2.11). Response time (msec) Black 1800 1600

White

1400 East Asian 1200 1000 Multiplication

Subtraction

Addition

Figure 2.10 From Rushton and Jensen, 2002 Mean response time of 10-year-olds.

Brain mass (g) 1,450

Men

1,350 Women 1,250

1,150

Height (cm)

Figure 2.11 Mean brain mass and height correlation for white females and males.

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 59 Figure 2.10 shows how white men are endowed with predominantly heavier brain mass, which is then correlated with IQ in order to come to the desired conclusion. This is done after already establishing that black people (both male and female) have in general a smaller brain than their counterparts among white people. What is the conclusion? The preponderance of evidence demonstrates that the brain size is correlated positively with intelligence and that both brain size and GMA are correlated with age, socioeconomic position, sex, and population group differences. (Rushton and Ankney, 2009)

For some time, the Horn and Donaldson model wasn’t challenged. It wasn’t until the work of Sevgur and Islam (1999) that such a rise and decline of fluid intelligence was correlated with the ‘blank slate’ model that was developed some time ago by John Locke (Islam et al., 2013). As pointed out by Islam et al. (2015), the blank slate model expands on an idea suggested by Aristotle in the fourth century B.C. The theory proposes that beyond a very few basic instincts, our experiences shape us entirely. Even though this model has been synonymous with political correctness because this theory would do away with the notion of hereditary aristocracy and slavery, this has inherent problems (Islam et al., 2013). This theory also fuels the nurture side of the nature vs. nurture debate in human development studies, creating another series of contradictions, some of which have blown out in recent years, ranging from justifying pedophilia as a natural trait (Fiorillo, 2014) to asking to reduce the age of consent to four for females (attributed to UK judge Lord Justice Fulford) and legalizing incest.9

2.4.2 The Hereditary Gene Aphenomenon Despite claims, new science has not graduated from the Rushton phenomenon. Almost every month reports of a new genetic connection to various cognition skills pop up. For instance, the psychology blog, http:// www.psychology-spot.com/2016/03/did-you-know-that-intelligence-is. html, recently ran a headline: “Did you know that intelligence is inherited from mothers?” There was no recent study attached to this sudden feminist conclusion and the closest scientific articles were four years older than

9

A quick search on news items in the UK would reveal recent debates in Europe, much of which is avoided in North America

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this particular blog. Yet, the story caught on. England (2016) reported the findings of the latest scientific study that proclaims that cleverness is carried on the X chromosome and may be deactivated if they come from the father. A mother’s genetics determines how clever her children are, according to England’s co-workers, and the father makes no difference. Women are more likely to transmit intelligence genes to their children because they are carried on the X chromosome and women have two of these, while men only have one. However, in addition to this, scientists now believe genes for advanced cognitive functions which are inherited from the father may be automatically deactivated. Laboratory studies using genetically modified mice found that those with an extra dose of maternal genes developed bigger heads and brains, but had little bodies. Those with an extra dose of paternal genes had small brains and larger bodies. A category of genes known as “conditioned genes” are thought to work only if they come from the mother in some cases and the father in other cases. Intelligence is believed to be among the conditioned genes that have to come from the mother. Researchers identified cells that contained only maternal or paternal genes in six different parts of the mice brains, which controlled different cognitive functions, from eating habits to memory. Cells with paternal genes accumulated in parts of the limbic system, which is involved in functions such as sex, food and aggression. But researchers did not find any paternal cells in the cerebral cortex, which is where the most advanced cognitive functions take place, such as reasoning, thought, language and planning. No sooner than this article appeared, the, mainstream media ran with the story, albeit with contradictory conclusions. Here are some samples: “Genetic scientists say children inherit intelligence from their mothers” The Telegraph, September 16, 2016 “No, Research Has Not Established That You Inherited Your Intelligence From Your Mother” Forbes, October 13, 2016 “Intelligence Gene: Science Proves Moms Are Responsible For Kids’ Smarts” Huffington Post, September 14, 2016 The website, https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2016/10/10/nonot-inherit-intelligence-mothers-genes/ finally acknowledged: Whatever is on the X can pass from mother to child or father to (usually) daughter, but the two X chromosomes the mother has aren’t the same and don’t at all automatically double the odds of inheriting a specific variant.

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 61 But there’s more…The doubled “gene dosage” for people with two (or more) X chromosomes is adjusted downward in a clever way: each cell turns off most of one X or the other. So inheriting an X-linked gene variant isn’t a guarantee that it will even be used because some cells might just shut it down.

Soon The Independent (September 27, 2016) ran another story, titled: “Poverty Changes Your Brain to Make You Less Intelligent, Study Suggests.” Emboldened by a scientific study (Al Hazzouri et al., 2017) still in press, it purported changes in the brain due to poverty. Researchers found life on the breadline for 20 years was “strongly associated” with “worse cognitive function” and premature aging. They suggested the potential causes of this phenomenon included the stress of having little money, inadequate housing and sanitation, and an unhealthy lifestyle – a poor diet, smoking, alcohol and too little exercise. The entire narration is based on the premise that genes can be altered by circumstances and then they can affect cognitive ability, even when a highly educated person falls into poverty. On October 28, 2016, The Telegraph ran another headline: “National Chocolate Day: 10 Convincing Health Reasons You Should Eat More of the Stuff.” It listed 10 reasons for eating chocolate to enhance one’s health. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

It’s good for the heart and circulation It reduces risk of stroke It’s mineral rich It reduces cholesterol It’s good for your skin It can help you lose weight It’s good for mothers and babies It may prevent diabetes Chocolate is good for the brain Chocolate makes you feel better

At no time did the article point out the possibility that the above benefits are related to organic chocolate only.

2.4.3 Knowledge-Based Model Figure 2.12 shows how crystalized and fluid intelligences are believed to grow. Also plotted is the knowledge-model originally attributed to Sevgur and Islam (1999) and reported by Islam et al. (2013 and 2015). Note how

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Magnitude of effect

Magnitude of effect Fluid intelligence knowledge model

Infancy Infancy

Crystallized intelligence conventional model Crystallized intelligence knowledge model

Fluid intelligence conventional model

Childhood Childhood

Young Middle age adulthood

Old age

Figure 2.12 Change in intelligence during the human lifespan.

a decline at the end is analogous to overall decline in human faculty due to old age. The knowledge model is the first one that gives children a very high fluid intelligence. This is logical because children are known to be extremely creative and with the most active neural activities in their brain. However, their crystalized intelligence is minimal and often their experience is so narrow and cognitive process so immature that their ability to use proper logic suffers. However, as early as middle school, children gain enough faculty to cognize without losing their childlike innocence. This would explain why children aged 11–14 have the “purest of logic,” as attributed to Dr. Alan Lowe, Senior Executive Director of Public Schools of Nova Scotia.10 It also means we should introduce research materials in the K-9 period during which creativity is high, leading to adequate preparedness for investigative learning. In fact, this can cause a paradigm shift in our education system (Islam et al., 2013). Figure 2.12 shows how crystalized intelligence becomes irrelevant at a later stage of life, as per the knowledge model. However, conventional models don’t predict the same behavior. Contrary to natural traits, cognitive ability remains a monotonous function of age, leading to paradoxes that cannot be reconciled. The knowledge model corrects this anomaly. The most common intelligence tests, such as IQ examinations, attempt to measure both kinds of intelligences. For example, the Wechsler Adult 10

Jaan Islam, Dalhousie University, personal communication

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 63 Intelligence Scale aims to measure fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence by utilizing the performance scale and the verbal scale respectively (see Kaufman and Lichtenberger, 2006, for details). The results of these two scales, when combined, correspond to the individual’s IQ rating. However, the shortcomings of such standardized tests are well documented and their correlation with real intelligence is not free from controversy. Even though, modern psychologists had been vocal about the hopelessness of IQ tests for measuring real intelligence, work of Hampshire et al. (2012) can be considered ground-breaking in “debunking the IQ myth”. They discovered by testing over 100,000 participants, required to complete 12 tests that needed planning, reasoning, memory and attention, that IQ has little correlation with real intelligence. For instance, their study found that people who play computer games performed “significantly better” in reasoning and shortterm memory exercises. On the other hand, smokers performed poorly on the short-term memory and the verbal factors, while people who frequently suffer from anxiety performed badly on the short-term memory factor in particular. The study also debunked the myth that a specific section of the brain engages in solving specific tasks. If education is about engaging students so they can enhance their cognitive ability, one must look at Figure 2.12, which shows the area most affected by the education system. It is the childhood and early adulthood period that show the largest divergence between the conventional model of intelligence and the knowledge-based one. Islam et al. (2013, p. 24–25) states: UNDERSTANDING REQUIRES CONSCIOUS PARTICIPATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL, AN ACT OF “FINDING OUT.” Learning outside and-or beyond such conscious participation in acts of “finding out” must be considered secondary. Such sources may support or help illuminate previously-gathered knowledge, but they are no substitute for authentic knowledge gathered at first hand. The participatory element differentiates such learning from all other kinds, while the conscious element further differentiates such learning from “learning by doing” (monkeys and others among the higher apes, ranked just below humans on the evolutionary scale, can also learn by doing). It follows that, for any person or system fulfilling an educating role, “acts of finding out” are where the rubber hits the road.

When we look at thinking and learning, the cyclical changes in capacity are not evident in everything that children or adolescents do because most of their acting, thinking, and learning do not push the limit of their capacities. While this is recognized, the role of conscious and conscientious

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participation is little understood. Each new round of the cycle, called a developmental level, is evident in a person’s optical level, the most complex skill or understanding that he or she can produce. Usually a person produces this optimal level only with strong contextual support, like that from a teacher, a tutor, or a text. Without such support, most thinking and learning occur at lower levels, not at the optimal level (Fisher, 1998). One gets an entirely different picture if the role of conscience is invoked (Islam et al., 2013b). It becomes clear that today’s education system is by and large a skill training scheme, with little impact on real education. This is demonstrated in the low retention level and high dropout rates in later years of schooling. In order to avoid robotization, one must impart conscious participation in the classroom. In this, the most important aspect is to understand how children cognize. Curiously, most controversy arises when it comes to child cognition.

2.4.4 Physical Stages of Human Development It was mentioned earlier that physical and mental functions are connected. Human growth cycles repeat several times between birth and 30 years of age. Each recurrence produces a new capacity for thinking and learning that appears to be grounded in an expanded, reorganized neural network. Humans have a new opportunity for relearning skills and reshaping networks that they missed learning in earlier cycles. This cyclical property seems to explain the remarkable human capacity for plasticity, including recovery from damaging environments and neural injuries, especially when later development occurs in a benevolent, nurturing environment. Key to natural cognition is the heart. Physically, the heart rate represents the most typical of numerous frequencies that humans are built with. Even though heart rate is frequently talked about in the context of both physical and psychological conditions, brain waves are also characteristics of human activities (Figure 2.13). Change in brain waves is evident during sleep, alertness, meditation, etc. Little is available about how such frequencies can affect overall human conditions, whereas most focus has been on how to alter natural frequencies. What makes it complicated is scientists have little knowledge of how they naturally vary with time as a person ages. Clearly, humans are not in control of their brain waves, thereby consolidating the theory that humans are an integral part of the universal order and their degree of freedom lies only within their intention (Islam et al., 2014b). Also, heartbeats themselves change over time. As a sign of every characteristic frequency itself being a function of time, the graph in Figure 2.14

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 65

(a) 0.5 – 3 Hz Delta

Deep sleep 4 – 7 Hz

Theta 8 – 13 Hz

Deep meditation and creaming Visualization and meditation

Alpha 14 Hz Beta

Wakefulness

(b)

Figure 2.13 The heartbeat (picture above) represents natural frequency of a human, whereas brain waves represent how a human is in harmony with the rest of the universe.

is produced. In this, the data on puberty and older people are extrapolated from published papers (e.g., Larson et al., 2013). Naturally, children are more dynamic and their body parts are renewed faster. This would necessitate faster replenishment of energy. The idea is to nurture natural frequencies, rather than fighting them. New science does the opposite and every ‘treatment’ is aimed at altering natural frequency, thereby countering forces of nature. There is what is characteristic but there is also what is fundamental. It is hard to believe or accept, for example, that other natural frequencies in one’s body are unrelated to heartbeat frequency. Thus, it would be difficult to believe that an individual’s brain wave frequency, for example, could be entirely accounted for from investigation of phenomena occurring within the cerebral cortex alone by itself. Islam et al. (2014b; 2015) postulated that we have no control over these frequencies. What we have control over is our intention. Thankfully that doesn’t affect the universal order but doubly thankfully does affect an individual’s long-term future. This connection of human intention with long-term future as well as disconnection of the

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Early puberty Child Toddler Infant Newborn 0

50

100

150

200

Figure 2.14 Maximum and minimum heart rate for different age groups.

Figure 2.15 Tangible/intangible duality continues infinitely for magascale to nano scale, from infinitely large to infinitely small.

universal order from human intervention is a notion that has been absent in every scientific cognition of post-Roman Catholic Church Europe. The interaction between physical and mental activities can be best described in terms of yin yang equilibrium (Figure 2.15). The same cyclic

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 67 balance also exists among males and females of every species. With this cyclic balance, there is no superiority of any particular entity over another as long as they belong to the group of creation in general. In addition, every object is in perfect harmony with nature. The above depiction supports the notion that physical and mental ailments contribute to each other. Also, age plays a role in both aspects of human development.

2.4.5 Cognition Among Children Before Piaget’s ground-breaking work, modern Europe did not have a child cognition model suited for children (Islam et al., 2013). Even after Piaget, child cognition models of non-European cultures have been ignored (Tomasello, 2001). The most natural education process is during the early years of a child (Mooney, 2000). Who are the teachers over that period? How a child interacts with the mother and how a mother can nurture the natural cognition process give out clues as to how children cognize and how the education system ought to devise the curriculum. The entire childhood education system is based on developing trust so children can develop their natural abilities (Bredkamp, 2010). The most important discovery of Piaget was the realization that children were giving ‘wrong’ answers because their own logic was leading to that conclusion. It meant, children do cognize using their own logic, which isn’t necessarily the same as that of adults.

Human Thought Material (HTM) begins in the fœtus. From the outset, it involves a special and essentially social relation — of the child to its mother and of the mother to her child. Although participation in all learning situations is always necessarily individual, however, whatever is actually available to be learned by the individual participant is always mediated by one or another social relation (Islam et al., 2013a). We are just beginning to see that although this social relation appears to frame how learning takes place, the relation itself leaves little or no tangible traces in the content of whatever the individual learns. We have little knowledge of how children process information, making it difficult to ‘test’ children, let alone reach conclusions about their learning outcome. In an article describing the roots of social and cognitive development, Meltzoff (1985) pointed out that developmental psychology has often hindered its own investigations by insisting on basic assumptions and misconceptions regarding infant development. As an example, Meltzoff pointed out that the prevailing scientific axiom

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regarding infant development is that the newborn is reflexive and asocial. Such views have been fostered and maintained in the traditions of Piaget, Bowlby’s attachment theory, and psychoanalytic theory. Islam et al. (2013) pointed out that both sides of the Piaget paradigm have shortcomings. It is true that the extent of any pre-natal learning that takes place — awareness of its surroundings on the part of the developing but as-yet-unborn fœtus — begins and ends with its relationship to the mother and her environment. For the fœtus, this is mediated through the womb. The fœtus’ sense of its own individuality is physically circumscribed by the placenta and amniotic fluid. However, before we take that model and seek to install a learning tool, we must ask: how do we measure the outcome of such ‘learning’? The fœtus is developing a brain but that organ is not yet at the stage of consciously categorizing and storing perceptions relative to the body’s experience of space and time. As humanity has recognized since the dawn of time, the presence of a fœtus growing inside a woman’s womb educates a mother in many ways — both about who she is becoming as a person, as well as about the real origins of new life in all those fundamental aspects that form such a large part of the process of giving birth. Meanwhile, at the same time, the fœtus is acquiring some sense of the existence of a world outside the womb long before it is actually born. This two-way interaction, which is in the core of natural cognition, is missing in our mainstream literature. Before going into details of the stages of child development, as suggested by Piaget (1936), let’s examine the corollaries that go into foetal learning. First: a newborn’s cognition is obviously not yet that of a toddler, but it is certainly not that of some rock or other insensate matter. While we have graduated from the ‘original sin’ characterization of newborns, the persistence down to this day in presenting the debate as one between the “blank slate” characterization on the one hand and something said to be already infused with an allegedly predisposed condition, be it an inherent vile, poverty gene, criminal gene, or God gene doesn’t advance knowledge about any truth involving the children. Instead, it reinforces the prejudice of the inherent and often non-explicit assumptions of the researcher. The fœtal learning hypothesis, with its strong suggestions that there may be far more “mother” in mother-tongue than any of the language acquisition experts have been prepared to acknowledge to date, would appear to point to a clear resolution of this seemingly irresolvable paradox. Only a limited current level of technical development of academically acceptable direct empirical evidence connecting pre-natal learning (inside the fœtus) with post-natal language development stands in the way of embracing such a resolution. Even that barrier is increasingly giving way. See for example, the researches into foetal responses to the sound of its mother painstakingly documented

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 69 in (Kisilevsky et al., 2003). Islam et al. (2013) cited more than two dozen references to articles summarizing detailed empirical research into various aspects of foetal learning, memory and process of aural stimuli. On the other hand, Thomas (2010) gives a taste of how confounded matters of theoretical understanding have become on this score more generally. In this connection, one cannot overemphasize the obstacle created by Noam Chomsky’s work on grammatical understanding as an innate languagelearning prerequisite, starting with his controversial published review of B. F. Skinner’s “behaviorist” explanation of human language production (Chomsky, 1959). Chomsky’s career-long commitment to elaborating a rationalist accounting of human language development has served greatly to obscure reconsidering a fœtal-stage learning process as the source of at least some of what seems “innate” in the post-natal child. If one considers the foetal stage as being natural, literature to date is an annal of bias and prejudices (Islam et al., 2013). Second: further reflection upon these elementary considerations would also seem to subvert a longstanding and profoundly held view that “learning” for the individual, from its earliest consciousness, is the result of a two-stage, quasi-mechanical process of perception (gathering information about the external world through the individual’s five senses) followed by cognition. Such a view breaks down when tested against what is now clearly established about fœtal learning. It is similar to the breakdown of Newton’s Laws of Motion in comprehending atomic and sub-atomic states of matter. In this case, it would seem the longstanding focus of knowledge-gathering about fœtal development on its pathway from a single cell eventually to birth actually has been, and remains, ideologically driven by a predisposition to assert dogmatically the individuality of the newborn child over and above its social role(s) or connection(s). This is akin to saying the cognition of a child has little to do with the society. Third: with both the fœtus and its mother finding out new things about one another and the process of giving rise to new life, all learning from the earliest stages of human development is essentially social and organic. From the outset, in other words, no learning is ever truly or completely individual. All real learning, i.e., learning in the sense of acquiring, exchanging or applying critically important HTM, is social. Each of these aspects has overwhelming implication for the future of a person (Gibb et al., 2001). Fourth: learning is synonymous with knowledge gathering and education. Unless there is no such thing as truth and truth is a matter of perception, learning cannot be a direct function of knowledge of the truth (Zatzman et al., 2007). Real education, on the other hand, should involve knowledge of the truth more than perception.

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Children in Western culture occupy a position quite different from that held in the Eastern cultures. Up until Piaget’s ground-breaking work, children were perceived as condensed version of adults. Before that, children were considered to be ‘born sinner’ and then ‘blank slate’, both positions being later debunked, even though new models have similar corollaries built in them. Piaget was the first psychologist in Europe to break out of the traditional definition of children (see Singer and Revenson, 1997 for details). Piaget (1973) developed a systematic study of cognitive development in children. His work included a theory on cognitive development, detailed observational studies of cognition in children, and a series of tests to reveal differing cognitive abilities. He observed child development in chronological sequences. Named after him, the Piaget stages of development are a blueprint that describes the stages of normal intellectual development, from infancy through adulthood. This includes thought, judgment, and knowledge. Piaget was one of the most influential researchers in the area of developmental psychology in the modern age. His primary premise was that a child moves through a series of chronological biological changes that invoke cognitive abilities (Singer & Revenson, 1997, p. 13). It is equivalent to asserting that tangible changes invoke intangible changes. Another one of Piaget’s (1973) beliefs was that the child plays an active role in the growth of intelligence and learns by doing. He regarded the child as a philosopher who perceives the world only as he has experienced it. Once again, this notion is similar to the model otherwise attributed to adults. For instance, the adult’s total intelligence is strictly proportional to crystalized intelligence, which is a measure of experience (see conventional graph in Figure 2.12). Therefore, most of Piaget’s inspiration in cognitive and intellectual development came from observations of children. In fact, Piaget observed and studied his own three children through each stage of their cognitive development (Singer and Revenson, 1997). The theory of cognitive development focuses on mental processes such as perceiving, remembering, believing, and reasoning. Reasoning is the essence of intelligence, and reasoning is what Piaget studied in order to discover “how we come to know” (Singer & Revenson, 1997, p. 13). While this is logical, Piaget’s theory doesn’t coincide with the most recent understanding that adolescent children have the purest of logic (see discussion in the previous section). Piaget believed that cognitive development is cumulative; that is, understanding a new experience grows out of a previous learning experience. It doesn’t distinguish between a false perception of events and a correct perception of events. For instance, if a child experienced touching of a fluorescent light bulb that emitted ‘white light’, his or her cognition wouldn’t be the same as another child that touched a

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 71 white torch that generated white light along with a great deal of heat. Yet, Piaget’s theory would leave no room to distinguish between the knowledge acquired by these two children. Through his work, Piaget (1973) showed that children think in considerably different ways than adults do. This did not mean that children thought at a less intelligent degree, or at a slower pace; they just thought differently when compared to adults. Piaget’s work showed that children are born with a very basic genetically inherited mental structure that evolves and is the foundation for all subsequent learning and knowledge. He saw cognitive development as a progressive reorganization of mental processes resulting from maturation and experience. This model is at the core of Eurocentric cognition and expands in other disciplines, including engineering and medicine (Islam et al., 2015). Piaget (1973) believed children will construct an understanding of the world around them, and will then experience discrepancies between what they already know and what they discover in their environment. Once again, this narration is a one-sided description of child psychology. Such narration doesn’t account for “negative” experience and “positive” experience. Consider two children, one raised in a loving environment with both parents treating her conscientiously, while the other raised in an abusive environment that put her down non-stop and expose her to mental abuse. As both children reach mental maturity, Piaget’s model fails to account for the obvious paradigm shift between the two children. Clearly, the child with a ‘positive’ upbringing will have a different set of standards from that of the other child. This implies older children, and even adults, who have not passed through later stages process information in ways that are characteristic of young children at the same developmental stage (Eggen and Kauchak, 2000). Piaget’s four stages of intellectual (or cognitive) development are: 1. Sensorimotor. Birth through ages 18–24 months 2. Preoperational. Toddlerhood (18–24 months) through early childhood (age 7) 3. Concrete operational. Ages 7 to 12 4. Formal operational. Adolescence through adulthood Piaget acknowledged that some children may pass through the stages at different ages than the averages noted above and that some children may show characteristics of more than one stage at a given time (Singer and Revenson, 1997, p.18). The later stages evolve from and are built on earlier ones. They point out that the sequence of stages is fixed and unchangeable

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and children cannot skip a stage. At each stage, the child will acquire more complex motor skills and cognitive abilities. Although different behaviors characterize different stages, the transition between stages is gradual, and a child moves between stages so subtly that he may not be aware of new perspectives gained. However, at each stage there are definite accompanying developmental changes in the areas of play, language, morality, space, time, and number (Singer & Revenson, 1997). Let’s review some of the salient features of these stages.

2.4.5.1

Sensorimotor Stage

During the early stages, infants are only aware of what is immediately in front of them. They focus on what they see, what they are doing, and physical interactions with their immediate environment. Because they don’t yet know how things react, they’re constantly experimenting with activities such as shaking or throwing things, putting things in their mouths, and learning about the world through trial and error. The later stages include goal-oriented behavior which brings about a desired result. Note how this narration matches precisely with the way an adult cognizes. The narration is almost a regurgitation of a project management course. Between ages 7 and 9 months, infants begin to realize that an object exists even if it can no longer be seen. This important milestone, known as object permanence, is considered to be a sign that memory is developing. What is missing from this narration is the fact that children’s memory is in general much more effective than adults’ memory. So, while it is true that infants do not care to look for objects hidden under a rug, for instance, the reason behind their apparent apathy is not lack of memory. In fact, it is well known infants look for their mother or caregiver and often settle for their smell (e.g., a mother’s T-shirt is very soothing to an infant). They certainly don’t lack in memory and in fact the faculty that they have is something currently known as ‘intangible’ (Zatzman and Islam, 2007). Indeed, this faculty makes them very different and much more effective in detecting useful objects than their adult counterparts. As humans grows older, they rely more on tangible aspects, some of which are their personal experience. This would further explain why creativity or fluid intelligence declines with age (Figure 2.12). After infants start crawling, standing, and walking, their increased physical mobility leads to increased cognitive development. Near the end of the sensorimotor stage, infants reach another important milestone – early language development, a sign that they are developing some symbolic abilities. This also means children start to communicate in a tangible fashion.

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 73 This tangible aspect of cognition is something a child lacks at an earlier age. Interestingly, this aspect is the essence of ‘crystalized intelligence’ and is the focus of the modern education curriculum.

2.4.5.2 Preoperational Stage During this stage, young children are able to think about things symbolically. Their language use becomes more mature. They also develop memory and imagination, which allows them to understand the difference between past and future, and engage in make-belief. As discussed earlier, ‘memory’ here refers to tangible aspects of events and not the intangible aspects. For instance, the fact that an infant doesn’t protest the company of a stranger cannot be construed as her forgetfulness or lack of memory. The infant certainly bonds with the mother in a way that is not tractable in a tangible fashion. Piaget also infers without justification that the thinking of children at this age is based on intuition and is still not completely logical. This in turn transforms the ‘original sin’ model into ‘original illogical’ model. Just because adults look at things in a different way doesn’t mean infants are illogical. A proper analysis would put this in perspective as a transition from intangible cognition to tangible cognition. Rather than saying that infants cannot yet grasp the “more complex concepts such as cause and effect, time, and comparison”, we ought to point out they don’t use the same concept as adults to transition from intangibles (e.g., thinking) to tangibles (speaking). Considering, Homo sapiens literally translates into ‘thinking men’, we cannot regurgitate the old concept that children are subhumans. An additional characteristic of children at this stage is their ability to link numbers to objects (Piaget, 1977). Numbers, of course, indicate transition from intangibles to tangibles (e.g., one dog, two cats, three pigs, four hippos, compared to feeling hungry, hurting). To develop the mathematical capability of a child in this stage, the child’s ability might be enhanced if he is allowed ample opportunity to act on the environment in unrestricted (but safe) ways in order to start building concepts (Martin, 2000). It is recognized even in the West that children at the sensorimotor stage have some understanding of the concepts of numbers and counting (Fuson, 1988). What is not recognized is the mathematical operations that the children use. For instance, it is natural for children at an early age to understand, without being taught, the concept of division. One can give an apple to a child and ask her to divide it up among three children. She might not be willing to share but she would know perfectly well what division means. Now, give that problem to a computer, it will run into all sorts of rounding

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off errors unless it is told that it must stop at a certain decimal point. In developing natural expert systems, Ketata et al. (2006, 2007a, 2007b) discussed natural cognition of children and used them as the standard for true intelligence, as opposed to artificial intelligence. At least at the outset, Piaget’s theory suggests that children do mathematics in a way completely different from what is done by a computer, which only repeats a single operation (addition) of 1 and 0, albeit numerous times and very fast. Educators of children in this stage of development should lay a solid mathematical foundation by providing activities that incorporate real operation rather than counting and that too in a strict pre-ordered sequence. For example, it is customary for teachers and parents to help children count their fingers, toys, and candies. However, how does that say anything about mathematical operations? Instead, it teaches children how to do robotic operations, something computers can do many times faster. Here, we have a problem of robotization that must be addressed. Questions such as “Who has more?” or “Are there enough?” or “share these candies among three of you” or “if each hen lays two eggs, how many would you have at the end if you have three hens?” could be a part of the daily lives of children as young as two or three years of age. Islam et al. (2015a) also published observations of children that considered a negative number is absurd. However, as the age increased, children started to grapple with negative numberS as though they were real. This is a clear sign of indoctrination. As students pass through steps of institutional learning, they become trained in computer-like logic. Ojose (2008) highlighted the use of picture books to stimulate mathematical thoughts at this stage of child cognition. Ojose recommended a collection of children’s books that can be used for mathematical contents in a classroom. All these books have two things in common: 1. They are all fiction; 2. They are all focused on counting. Cameron (1963) wrote: It would be nice if all of the data which sociologists require could be enumerated because then we could run them through IBM machines and draw charts as the economists do. However, not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. (p.13)

In 2007, Zatzman and Islam described the countable-counted nexus as ‘Tangible-Intangible conundrum’ and concluded that intangibles that are missed in the modern-day education system do constitute the driver of cognition. Later, Khan and Islam (2012) demonstrated that mathematics that focus on numbers and counting take us to the path of unsustainability

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 75 by taking a myopic approach. A knowledge-based approach would be to take the approach of obliquity that discusses the concept, and numbers come up as a means of making final comparison between two acceptable options, rather than being the driver.

2.4.5.3 Concrete Operational Stage At this time, elementary-age and preadolescent children – ages 7 to 11 — demonstrate logical, concrete reasoning. “Logical” here means logical as recognized by adults. This stage is considered to be less egocentric and children are increasingly aware of external events. They begin to realize that their own thoughts and feelings are unique and may not be shared by others or may not even be part of reality. However, Piaget doesn’t include any discussion as to what constitutes reality. It turns out, this is not just a matter of semantics, as ‘what constitutes real logic or real event or simply truth’ is a topic of contention (Zatzman et al., 2007). What later is defined as the ‘knowledge model’ postulates that children start off with infinite creativity and great fluid intelligence, but lack crystalized intelligence. Crystalized intelligence itself is not mere collection of experiences, it is a collection of experiences and events that made an impact on the child. So, if the child is told a fiction or lied to outright, be it in the form of Santa Claus, tooth fairy, or Easter bunny fictions or deliberate lies to misguide them (in the case of child abuse), it will have a different impact than if they were told true stories that either got passed on from generations or recounted from a book that preserved historical facts. This is the period of optimal functionality between fluid intelligence and crystalized intelligence (see where two knowledge curves intersect in Figure 2.12). It is said, during this stage, most children still can’t think abstractly or hypothetically. However, it becomes hyperbolic if one considers the knowledge model that defines logic of this age as the ‘purest’ because of the innocence of heart and maturity of the brain. It is perceived that children at this stage can utilize their senses in order to cognize beyond what is obvious and tangible. It is commonly thought that they can consider two or three dimensions simultaneously instead of successively. This is the time, according to Piaget’s famous experiment, a child can notice that the same amount of water is held in a jar and a flat dish even though the water in a jar has a greater height (Piaget, 1977). While this supports the commonly held belief that children learn sequentially, it is not supported by the knowledge-based model and is coming under serious criticism. While linear thinkers continue to consider the space in Cartesian coordinates, in reality there are numerous such dimensions to

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consider and if the restriction of ‘blank slate’ is removed and infinite fluid intelligence at birth is invoked, a child is seen as an inherent visionary of multiple dimensions. Piaget’s theory is seen, on the other hand, as a recommendation for linear progress and therefore limits children’s cognition to linearized depiction of the surroundings. It is equivalent to saying, an eye sees the surroundings much like a camera lens, or a human calculates like a computer. This is problematic. In order to stimulate mathematical thoughts at this stage, Burns and Silbey (2000) suggested that the use of “hands-on experiences and multiple ways of representing a mathematical solution can be ways of fostering the development of this cognitive stage” (p. 55). There is an ancient Chinese proverb (quoted by Islam et al., 2013a): “I read and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand.” The importance of hands-on activities cannot be overemphasized at this stage and it is becoming clear higher grades can also use this technique as classrooms are becoming cesspools of low retention and even lower thought stimulation. These activities include pattern blocks, Cuisenaire rods, algebra tiles, algebra cubes, geoboards, tangrams, counters, dice, and spinners. The challenge here is to connect the mathematical concept with activities. For instance, Burns and Silbey (2000) wrote: “children tend to think that the manipulations they do with models are one method for finding a solution and pencil-and-paper math is entirely separate” (Burns & Silbey, 2000, p. 60). For example, it may be difficult for children to conceptualize how a four by six-inch rectangle built with wooden tiles relates to four multiplied by six, or four groups of six. Here, the role of teachers is crucial. Eggen & Kauchak (2000) noted that while a specific way of representing an idea is meaningful to some students, a different representation might be more meaningful to others. It is tempting to impose their own views and beliefs on students, but it is also the onset of dogmatization. Islam et al. (2013a) suggested that teachers should keep the questions open-ended and let the children develop their own cognition and allow them to question any established formulation. They wrote: The way out of these conundrums comes ultimately by way of recognizing the primacy of the larger environment within which any given material reality unfolds. Thus, some criteria for adjudicating the truth-content of any material reality would seem logically to repose in those features that may be said to be characteristic of that environment, meaning: features that mathematicians would consider “invariant under transformation.” Before Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, on the one hand, and quantum mechanics, on the other,

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 77 took hold, the only environment that surrounded material reality came either in two or three dimensions. Time itself — and especially: how it passed— was immutable, and could comfortably be treated as the independent variable. In the outermost reaches of the intergalactic space of Einstein’s theory or the subatomic spaces of quantum theory, on the other hand, time can no longer be assumed immutable or independent. Even in “normal” 2-space or 3-space, many of the organic transformations routinely seen in the natural world cannot be fully or accurately accounted by means of the conventional mathematics of Newtonian mechanism. (p.10)

This is the age that children are exposed to mathematics as taught in the modern age. Contrary to what Piaget called ‘natural cognition’, which would mean, they know division, followed by multiplication, then subtraction, and finally addition, the modern math curriculum does exactly the opposite, as pointed by Kamili (1999). Kamili (1999) added furthermore that traditional textbook-based teaching can be harmful to children’s development of numerical reasoning. Islam et al. (2010) further suggested that children indeed are inherently prone to using real logic as contrasted to the logic that is taught in schools. In particular, they picked the case of teaching robotic mathematics and promoting it as logical arithmetic.

2.4.5.4 Formal Operational Stage Adolescents who reach this fourth stage of intellectual development, usually at age 11-plus, are able to logically use symbols related to abstract concepts, such as algebra and science. They can think about multiple variables in systematic ways, formulate hypotheses, and consider possibilities. They also can ponder abstract relationships and concepts such as justice. Once again, this is the narration of the conventional model that can be best described as the ‘blank slate’ model. For instance, this age represents the period conventional mathematics has been introduced as the standard. It means linear, sequential thinking has been embedded in the child as the only way to cognize. Although Piaget believed in lifelong intellectual development, he insisted that the formal operational stage is the final stage of cognitive development, and that continued intellectual development in adults depends on the accumulation of knowledge. However, the division in various sequential stages leaves no room for accumulation of knowledge beyond what has been established as ‘knowledge’ and approved by the Establishment. This is not much different from what used to be branded

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as ‘knowledge’ during the reign of the Roman Catholic Church. Islam et al. (2013) pointed out: As far as cross-cultural comparisons go, meanwhile, the very idea of “curriculum” itself turns out to be profoundly Eurocentric. This becomes clear after examining the foundations laid for Islamic education in the light of how, first, the Holy Roman Catholic Church and — later—secular authorities throughout western Europe and later throughout the Americas, came to view the entire question of the purposes as well as the content of curriculum. (p. 20)

2.4.6 Beyond Piaget’s Model Piaget’s idea that all children go through fixed, sequential stages of development has been the target of much criticism. One of the most important critiques came from Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who argued that the development of human beings is too complex to be defined by such chronological stages. The principal objection of Vygotsky (1934) was that Piaget failed to understand the role of social and environmental influences on cognitive development. What Piaget described as the work of the ‘lone scientist’ (meaning children cognize on their own motivation from within) was taken by Piaget critiques as ignoring the role of the society and environment. In contrast, for Vygotsky (1978), the metaphor that best describes the primary source of development is that children are “little apprentices” who receive the help and support that they need from their teachers in learning situations. Unlike Piaget’s notion that children’s development must necessarily precede their learning, Vygotsky argued, “learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organized, specifically human psychological function” (1978, p. 90). In other words, social learning tends to precede (i.e., come before) development. This replaced the “lone scientist” metaphor of Piaget. Thus, for Vygotsky, the development of cognition comes more from outside the individual than from inside. Ironically, this also marked a giant leap toward turning education into training, whereas people considered Vygotsky as pulling away from a doctrinal method to a secular method (Islam et al., 2013). Vygotsky’s followers see a difference between what children can accomplish on their own and what they can do with the help of an adult. Vygotsky used the term “zone of proximal development” to denote the distance at any given time between what a child actually knows and what the child can learn under the supervision of an adult or through contact with other children. This chalks out a great role of teachers in shaping a child’s cognition.

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 79 According to Vygotsky, because the culture (in the large sense) that surrounds a child is a determining factor in that child’s development, if one studies the development of this child in isolation, as Piaget does, one cannot adequately represent the process by which children actually acquire knowledge. This conclusion embeds the inherent assumption that children are blank slates, without any ability to cognize on their own and they must be indoctrinated from beginning to end. Such a conclusion conflates the role of skill development with education, as pointed out in previous sections. In this process, language plays an important role. The Vygotsky model implies that language is the most effective means that adults have at their disposal to convey knowledge to children. As learning progresses, children’s language itself becomes a learning tool that they internalize and use “in their heads ” to think about the world. In other words, Vygotsky replaces 100% internal (of Piaget model) to 100% external, ignoring the innate desire and need of a child to use language to express his or her feelings to the world that understands primarily such form of verbal communication. A balance between the Piaget model and the Vygotsky model is struck in Figure 2.16. It shows that interactions with other people that are important for the child’s development require an emotional equilibrium and selfesteem that other researchers have placed at the center of their conception of how the mind develops. This satisfies the critics of Piaget’s model that argue that it does not offer a complete description of cognitive development

Learned tasks child’s inner voice

Zone of

Teacher or parent

Interaction

imal

prox

nt

e pm elo

v de

Tasks not yet in the learner’s repertoire of abilities

Tasks at the limit of the learner’s abilities

Figure 2.16 Actual interactions and cognition depends on both the child’s innate cognition and environmental/social effects.

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(Eggen & Kauchak, 2000). It also allows a role for parents and teachers that can contribute to a positive environment both at home and school. Another line of criticism of the Piaget model is for his belief in the limited abilities of children. Gelman et al. (1986), pointed out that abstract directions and requirements may cause young children to fail at tasks they can do under simpler conditions. At the same time, Piaget has been criticized for overestimating the ability of older children (Gelman et al., 1986). However, this too isn’t justified. For instance, Eggen and Kauchak (2000) assert that Piaget’s model dictates that middle school teachers assume that their students can always think logically in the abstract, yet this is often not the case. However, this criticism doesn’t explain the role of interactions between a parent/teacher that teaches falsehood and the parent/teacher that teaches the truth. This distinction cannot be explained away by saying that ‘whatever you perceive is true’ because that is the ultimate of dogma (Islam et al., 2014a; Zatzman et al., 2007). In general it is recognized that teaching how to cognize to a child is an absurd concept. However, the process of self-cognition is thought to be amenable to acceleration through intervention of the teachers/parents (Zimmerman & Whitehurst, 1979). This is also supported by Piaget’s belief that the amount of time each child spends in each stage varies by environment (Kamii, 1982). While the duration (or acceleration) is considered, no previous model considers the quality of cognition. For instance, if a student is taught falsehood and forced to memorize such falsehood as fact and is further made to believe that this is the only way to cognize, how does that impact his or her foundation for future cognition? Piaget promoted the principle that a child should be encouraged to selfcheck, approximate, reflect and reason while the teacher studies the child’s work to better understand his thinking (Piaget, 1970). This is in sharp contrast to Vygotsky’s principle that considers students to be ‘coachable’ and must be ‘trained’ to learn to cognize. Either way, teachers must be able to present numbers and quantities in a meaningful way. For instance, if children are asked questions in such a way that they understand it’s a ‘trick’ to get them to count, they will lose interest immediately. In addition, one would not know how they would naturally harbor mathematical thoughts or come up with an answer that requires mathematical operations. In this regard games are excellent tools for stimulating mathematical principles (Kamii, 1982). A simple game of musical chairs is often cited as an example that can teach about sequencing, patterns, and predictions all at the same time. Similarly, scorekeeping in marbles and bowling requires comparison of quantities and simple arithmetical operations. A simpler example is the guessing game, for which one child chooses a number between one and

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 81 ten and another attempts to determine it, being told if his guesses are too high or too low. Even though simple, this one can unlock a new system of number search, quite different from the typical binary search used in computers.

2.4.7 Ecological Model of Bronfenbrenner The original Piaget model (Piaget, 1929) was received with enthusiasm as a refreshingly new model that got rid of the model based on ‘original sin’ that saw children as incomplete beings, incapable of developing on their own (Goldstein, Freud and Solnit, 1979). However, dissatisfaction grew about this model as it was being tainted as showing children as simplistic and egocentric individuals. This got intensified when systematic exclusion of children with additional needs/disabilities from equal participation in education was carried out in many countries, including the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Vygotsky’s model, on the other hand, characterizes a child’s mind as a blank sheet on which educators can inscribe their knowledge, making the impact of the environment a governing factor on the child’s education. This model is in favor of placing children with disabilities in separate classrooms. This needed to be remedied by considering all children as capable individuals in their own right, who are curious and have rights and responsibilities and can make significant contributions to society (Agbenyega, 2009; Fleer, 2011). This development is rooted on the ecological theory advanced by Russian-born American developmental psychologist, Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005). In brief, this theory presumes that a child’s environment influences his cognitive development as a dynamic function of time. The model provides a holistic framework in many areas of child development to show the effects on an individual’s development. Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological model of child development explains the relationships and levels of interaction between the individual and its environment. Bronfenbrenner (1979) developed the educational model that can be characterized as a middle ground between Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Recall that Piaget introduced the notion of ‘lone scientist’ (meaning children draw upon innate qualities entirely) whereas Vygotsky saw the process of human development as being shaped by the interaction between an individual and his or her environment. What Bronfenbrenner added is the concept of time function within the role of environment that includes dynamic interactions with parents, friends, school, work, and others. In this, the culture is thought to play a pivotal role because culture drives other factors (Bronfenbrenner, 1994; Gardiner and Kosmitzki, 2008). The

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most important aspect of the model is the recognition of the dynamic nature of human development and all factors that affect it. Bronfenbrenner himself wrote: I have been pursuing a hidden agenda: that of re-assessing, revising, and extending—as well as regretting and even renouncing—some of the conceptions set forth in my 1979 monograph (Bronfenbrenner, 1989, p. 187).

Bronfenbrenner introduces the concept of staged development of the environment, namely microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. Microsystems include immediate interactions that affect a person’s persona, such as family, school, peer, and workplace. In terms of time function, it starts with mother, then father, then siblings, then relatives (depending on culture), then school, and so on. In essence, microsystems are “fundamental units” that govern personality. For an educational perspective, they are the building blocks. Mesosystems, on the other hand, are collections of microsystems that affect a person’s life at a given time. For instance, if a child is attending school while being under the care of parents and in the presence of siblings and peers, each of those sets of environment will form special components of the mesosystem. The exosystem involve two or more settings, at least one of which doesn’t contain the developing person directly. For instance, an exosystem will include parent’s work place(s), parent’s relationship with their peers/relatives/neighbors, or school system’s interaction with other schools, etc. The macrosystem contains micro-, meso-, and exosystems and forms the basis of culture-driven society. This ‘culture’ is thought to include belief systems, bodies of knowledge, material resources, customs, life-styles, hazards, life course options, etc. The chronosystem is the final system that formalizes the time dependence of a culture that affect the entire society. Bronfenbrenner used the imagery of a set of Russian dolls (matryoshka) to assist with the understanding of the ecological context of his model, with each doll representing a layer nested within the others and all of them being in a time sequence. Figure 2.17 shows how different levels add up to forming the basis of ethnicity. This model later was extended to include ‘knowledge evolution’ that ended up connecting to genetics (Bronfenbrenner and Ceci, 1994). This work incorporates biological evolution induced by the ecological factors. Such connection would explain why ecology can affect the environment and thereby have a profound snowball effect on education and knowledge gathering. Wombles (2010) pointed out how Bronfenbrenner’s ecological

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 83 Culture/ethnicity ---> consolidate history of a nation

Macro ---> institutions with indirect impact on child Exo ---> no direct impact on child Meso ---> interactions among micros Micro ---> closest to the child

Figure 2.17 Various stages lead to the formation of ethnicity/nationality.

model has been well accepted in a wide range of applications, ranging from cultural development to special education. For instance, Rous et al. (2007) used Bronfenbrenner’s model to examine the transition process for children with disabilities and their families as related to programs provided through the U.S. project, titled: Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). Children with disabilities offer a unique perspective of the Bronfenbrenner model. As pointed out in previous sections (my Report 2), this model that assumes inherent disability of a child is a popular one as it coincides with the ‘original sin’ (or ‘defective gene’) starting point. The synthesis of bioecological model with organizations systems theory promotes a theme that is, in Rous et al. (2007)’s words: …in order to maximize outcomes and should focus “on understanding development and child outcomes as an interaction between the developing child, his/her environmental context, and the timing of the particular process being examined” (p. 138). Further extension can be made in the microsystems level in designing transitional programs for individual children with disabilities. It is recognized that a child’s particular biological constitution as well as genetic inheritance must be taken into account, along with a child’s family and surrounding communities. In case there is a cultural pattern that affects a child with disability, entire cultural perspective must be included in the analysis (Gardiner & Kosmitzki, 2008). They confirmed the validity of the Bronfenbrenner model in settings under various customs that governed different levels of interactions involving customs of child care and child rearing, psychology of the caretakers, and other in the development equation. Harkness et al. (2007) supported the biological heritage concept of Bronfenbrenner’s updated bioecological model and included a “particular

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set of inherited dispositions” (Harkness et al., 2007, p. 34S) as a procedural matter, making the connection between Piaget and Vygotsky, at least for children with disability. The idea is to use ‘genius’ as a starting point. According to Harkness et al. (2007), an incomplete understanding of the three subsystems, namely, settings, customs, and caretaker psychology will interfere with the rehabilitation program devised for the child with a disability. They do not make any connection with children of very high IQ or families that provide children with exceptional support. In all these analyses, religion is lumped into culture, as though all religions are ‘belief ’ systems that are affected by the prevalent culture of a society. This is true at least for the scenario involving children with disabilities. Other difficulties arise from the fact that few research studies are available on the impact of parental psychological status, along with parents/environment/workplace factors. Wombles (2010a) introduced the possible cyclical nature of the human psyche when it comes to the history of religion and its psychology. Once again, no distinction is made between culture and religion or the psychology thereof. While the cyclical nature is fact (Islam et al., 2013; 2014), this analysis does retain the conflation between knowledge and belief and thereby between culture and religion. In Wombles’ words: When psychology became its own distinct branch of science in the latter part of the 19th century, it did not separate itself entirely from its philosophical roots. While psychology has never been a united field, with its scientific adherents often taking potshots at its more philosophically-minded brethren, the study of religion from a psychological perspective was inaugurated almost from the beginning of psychology’s advent as a modern scientific field of enquiry. Ushered into a topic worthy of investigation under Hall and James and their students Leuba and Starbuck, the psychology of religion was initially on relatively scientific terms, with initial studies in conversion conducted in the 1890s. With the rise in behaviorism, the study of religion from the perspective of psychology languished and was taken up from religion’s side and pursued from the angle of providing Christian counseling. (p. 1)

Islam et al. (2013a) proposed a comprehensive model that shows the cyclical nature of information and disinformation. Based on historical facts, separated from dogmatic assertions and ‘beliefs’, they showed how true knowledge oscillated throughout history and predicted a renewed surge soon after the current superflux of disinformation is overcome by the emergence of true knowledge. Figure 2.18 depicts their observation

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 85 Knowledge

Great savants/prophets

Time

Figure 2.18 Cyclical nature of knowledge gathering (redrawn from Islam et al., 2013a).

as well as future projection. Note how every sharp increase corresponds to a savant/visionary/prophet who consciously and conscientiously sought knowledge for the betterment of the society. Soon after their death, however, the society dipped back into a phase of disinformation and the situation didn’t improve until another savant/visionary/revolutionary came to start afresh. Tudge et al. (2009) investigated various applications of Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory. They concluded that all but four of the 25 recently published (during 2001 and 2008) papers rely on outmoded versions of the theory, resulting in conceptual confusion and inadequate testing of the theory. He gave one possible reason, that some scholars merely want to provide some general theoretical support for their view that the contexts in which developing individuals exist have an influence on their development or that both contexts and the individuals themselves are influential. Overall, the Bronfenbrenner model leaves out several fundamental items. They are: 1. It doesn’t connect to new faith, or true knowledge. In this knowledge cognition, religions are ranked as culture, without justification. Therefore, the standard of true knowledge becomes arbitrary. 2. Because no distinction between religion and culture is made, one loses track of real root (e.g., a prophet as opposed to compulsive psychopath) and artificial root (for instance, dogma being conflated with religion). 3. By losing the directionality of a system, conscientious and conscious efforts of cognition are conflated with ‘true religion’.

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering 4. A child starts as a ‘blank slate’ (righteous society) or with ‘original sin’ (corrupt society) and carries over such aphenomenal status throughout adulthood (Islam and Zatzman, 2007; Islam et al., 2013). 5. The role of each individual of the society is neither tracked nor can be recognized in the macro scale.

These flaws are remedied in the knowledge model that assumes a different departure point for child cognition and assigns different directionality for true stories and fictional stories, irrespective of the ‘religious’ status of a culture.

2.5 The Nature Science Model of Humanity To date, no single principle (such as Piaget’s equilibration or Vygotsky’s model) can account for the development of a whole child. Individual development cannot be understood without reference to the social and cultural context within which it is embedded. It is recognized that higher mental processes in the individual have their origin in social processes. However, what is not recognized is how to account for upbringing that depends on indoctrination differently from an upbringing that harbors natural growth. Both Piaget and Vygotsky models have merit but none can answer all the questions that were raised in the above sections with any level of satisfaction. In addition, the two models both have a very similar first premise about the status of children’s innate intelligence as both assume some form of the ‘blank slate model’. For the pre-school child, play is probably the single most important path on which the individual’s sense of their own thought-material is acquired and validated. During the 20th century and since, a massive literature came into being about the educational and developmental-psychology aspects of pre-school play. However, the focus of the vast majority of studyapproaches to this same phenomenon in both these fields has been concerned with the contribution of play activities to the overall development of the human organism as a fully individuated yet also social being. At the level of individual cases, however, what the child is (or is not) learning or likely to learn from these experiences seems so similar and familiar — certainly to the adult investigator — that the literature has considerably less to say about the process of the organism (with its still-developing brain) acquiring human–social thought material from these play-experiences, with their large component of personally directed experimentation.

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 87 The key moments in the development of the individual human being’s thought-material are identified/identifiable mostly at important transitionpoints, such as the transition from being breast- or bottle-fed to acquiring one’s nourishment at the table to [eventually] preparing one’s own meals; or the individual’s transition from discharging wastes into a diaper (that someone else manages) to using the bathroom on one’s own; or the individual’s transition from operating within the space of the home to operating partly in space(s) outside the home involving very different issues of personal physical security, etc. The key to all these cases is the involvement of the developing individual in some activity that is physically necessary to sustaining how it lives. In all these cases, the common feature serving to harmonize the individual with his or her surrounding environment is supplied by some conscious act or acts (on the individual’s part) of “finding out.” In which of these scenarios, however, can it be said that learning could only take place depending on what some external source has taught? Similarly: in which of these scenarios could the individual be expected to learn anything without personally engaging with the surrounding environment in some way at some level or other? Be it from a book, a website or a teacher’s instruction, real or effective learning of anything by an individual only takes place, and indeed can only take place, after the individual has become practiced in the notion, and entirely accommodated to the reality, of engaging the surrounding environment personally whenever answers to some question(s) are being sought. The issue with human thought-material is neither how much of it one has, nor indeed even whether one has any at all, but only whether one has learned how to learn for oneself and in the process become somewhat self-aware about the life of the mind. Piaget’s (1936) work can be best described as genetic epistemology (i.e., the origins of thinking). Genetics is the scientific study of where things come from (their origins). Epistemology is concerned with the basic categories of thinking, that is to say, the framework or structural properties of intelligence. What Piaget wanted to do was not to measure how well children could count, spell or solve problems as a way of grading their I.Q. He was more interested in the way in which fundamental concepts like the very idea of “number”, “time”, “quantity”, “causality”, “justice” and so on emerged. In that sense, Piaget wasn’t about justifying adult perception of children through observation of children, it was more about discovering how children cognize. Even though Piaget never made it explicit, it is implied that children are born with inherent qualities that are different. It would mean that children do have their own cognition tactic. This could have been utilized to develop cognition models that would be unique and

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different from adult models that all teachers and parents are familiar with. However, that didn’t happen and all followers of Piaget routinely imposed their own premises and perceptions of the child and they were surprised to find out that children were conforming to the model. Detractors, on the other hand, found everything about Piaget offensive and discarded any thought that children would cognize differently, perhaps independently or even with superiority (to adults). They assumed that children are in need of coaching, training, and dogmatizing so they learn how to cognize properly. Before Piaget’s work, the common assumption in psychology was that children are merely less competent thinkers than adults. Piaget showed that young children think in strikingly different ways compared to adults. According to Piaget, children are born with a very basic mental structure (genetically inherited and evolved) on which all subsequent learning and knowledge is based. This model was replaced with the Vygotsky model that ignores the inherent qualities of a child and presents the environment model. Historically, such transition from one extreme to another, both ignoring a different premise that would avoid any paradoxical cognition, has been the hallmark of the modern age. Islam et al. (2013) called it a “roller coaster ride between two aphenomenal states”, both with a false premise as the starting point. In this particular case, the Piaget model is akin to the gene model that has seen the surge of a regurgitated version of the original sin in the form of ‘cancer gene’, ‘criminal gene’, ‘gay gene’, or even ‘God gene’, and soon to be ‘discovered’, ‘pedophile gene’.11 The Vygotsky model, on the other hand, is akin to the ‘blame the devil’ model that was once popular among the ranks of European Christians. Because he disconnects inherent attributes of a child either because they are blank slates or they are inherently meaningless, the environment becomes the sole contributor to a person’s persona. A common feature in all these examples of extremities —and the list could go on for volumes—is that the one extreme does not, and, indeed, cannot, exist without its opposite. We have here to deal with dialectical unities of opposites. However, instead of—indeed far from—finding

11 James M. Cantor, a University of Toronto professor of psychiatry whose research team has made a series of startling correlations finding that pedophiles are likely to share physical attributes, such as slightly lower IQs, shorter body height, left-handedness and less brain tissue is known to have said in front of Canada’s Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, “Whatever the chain of events is, the chain begins before birth…There is no way to explain the findings that we get for pedophilia without mentioning or without including biology… It is inescapable at this point. We cannot rule out psycho-social influences, but we cannot have a complete theory that cannot explain these non-obvious but exquisitely important biological findings.”

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 89 their own path through these extremes, or being assisted to find a path of their own, what happens? Individuals are beset on all sides not to have their own consciousness, not to be guided by their own conscience, and not to sort anything out for themselves. Shockingly, this roller coaster ride prevails over rationality and even the necessity for timely intervention. There are various ways to account for this. Fascination for the tangible or the pragmatic approach is the driver of this roller coaster ride. Such a focus is also coupled much of the time with an obsession to obtain instant results. The knowledge model (Islam et al., 2014a) differs from other models in its first premise. It assumes children are born with infinite fluid intelligence and in the most perfect state. This is akin to assuming ‘nature is perfect’ – an assumption that has led to the discovery of sustainable engineering and resource development (e.g., Khan and Islam, 2012). Instead of imposing an adult’s perception on children, the knowledge model strives to develop understanding of how children cognize, given full freedom. Because the younger the age, the closer they are to being perfect models, observation of younger children is more important than observation of older children. In terms of play, the knowledge model recognizes that although play has been a well-established curriculum component in early childhood education, the increasing emphasis on accountability appears to have led to a corresponding decline in the general understanding of the important contribution that high-quality play—especially pretend play—can make to children’s cognitive development in the early years. The possible relationships between pretense and the development of mental representation (Theory of Mind—TOM) have been studied extensively in the past decade. Derived from the view that pretense involves mental representation (Leslie, 1987) and from study of role-play as a form of perspective taking (Rubin & Howe, 1986), a series of experimental studies using children’s understanding of false belief (i.e., inaccurate beliefs held by others) have explored pretense and TOM issues. Lillard (1998) has pointed out that pretense involves “out of play frame” negotiation between players with differing views, simultaneous representation of objects in two ways (real and pretend), role-play requiring acting out others’ thoughts and actions, and portrayal of emotions appropriate to varied situations and actors—all of which suggest that pretenders have mental representation abilities. Using experimental versions of false-belief tasks, a number of studies have found that children do not exhibit the ability to recognize false beliefs until about age 4 or 5, although they engage in object transformation and role taking in pretense at a much earlier age. Lillard suggests that younger children probably see pretend as an action not a mental representation. However, she recently has suggested that pretend play may function for children as a

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way to create a “Twin Earth” that allows them to participate in and reason about non-actual situations (Lillard, 2001). Missing here is the difference between pretend play and real play. For instance, a pretend play would have the expected outcome all figured out by the adult observer, whereas the real play wouldn’t have that limitation. As a consequence, the observer would have as much to gain as the student and the role of the teacher would be more of a facilitator and co-researcher than a coach. Another unique feature of the knowledge model is the inclusion of quality of upbringing in the cognition pattern of a child. It assumes that no cognition defect (other than known ‘disabilities’) is inherent to a child and the cognition pattern that a child develops up to the age of 7 is based on the environment the child is exposed to, be it at home and/or at school. This is the period that children should be exposed to facts so they do not conflate facts with falsehood at later stages. What should be researched in terms of validation of the knowledge model is how children react to true stories and fictions. So far, all Western publications as researched by the author have only dealt with fictions at the early stage of education. By contrast, consider the following statement attributed to Jafar Imam As-Sadeq: “Let your child be free to play until they reach the age of seven. For the next seven years, keep a watchful eye on him, and finally befriend him for another seven year. Then if he succeeds; otherwise, there is no good in him.” This quote summarizes Qur’anic principles of humanity and upbringing of children. This is also in line with Eastern philosophy often credited to Buddhism or Confucianism. This unravels three different crucial stages. The first stage (0–7 years): The first seven years of a child’s life are the years in which he develops physical strength. This is the stage also that is amenable to true education, in the true sense of the meaning of the word ‘educere’, meaning ‘bringing forth’. This is the time children should be given the freedom to engage in all sorts of productive physical activities. As per their cognitive ability, it is time to let them enjoy the freedom, rather than starting to coach them to think a certain way. Apart from protecting children from obvious physical dangers, their physical and mental expeditions should not be tampered with. This is the stage that is most vulnerable to indoctrination, which must be avoided. Any adult can recall how many Santa Claus, tooth fairy, Easter bunny, and fairy tales one has been told and how such fake stories have impacted one’s long-term cognitive abilities. False stories at that age create great obstacles to natural development and a strict physical regimen

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 91 creates natural resistance to such maneuvering. Children start to develop contempt for the regimen as well as the enforcer. Treating children with utmost love and empathy is paramount at this stage. This is not the phase to discipline or to even guide children. At no time should children at that age be punished (including sending to his or her room). It’s because at this age children do not understand the concept of punishment as a deterrent nor do they own their intention so they cannot be held accountable for their actions. As we have seen in the previous section, in the absence of ownership of intention, any attempt to hold them accountable will backfire. Children should also be given the right to express themselves, be it in crying in public or arguing with an adult. Suppressing self-expression can impart long-term harm. Part of empathy for the children must include the understanding that children cognize with their own fundamental premises and they are not capable of making anticonscience fallacies. For instance, if a child is stomping on ants, killing them, it suffices to evoke empathy by saying that ‘mummies of the ants will be sad’, instead of lecturing him on the value of being righteous. This stage of maximum freedom is not to be conflated with freedom to make policies or opinions that will have long-term impact. In an overt display of this genre of ‘freedom’ we have seen the most famous transgender child, Avery (cover of National Geographic in January 2017) tell her mother that she identified as female when she was only three years old. If such logic is rendered into a standard, the inevitable outcome would be anarchy – something we have seen in plenty. What if Avery wanted to have a sex change at that time? What if Avery considered herself to be an adult (using freedom of age – the likes of which have been seen in Toronto – the 6-year-old girl who used to be a 46-year-old father of 7 children12), could she get married legally with an opposite sex partner? Such absurdity can be avoided by simply recognizing the fact that children are entitled to freedom of thought but cannot be trusted to make decisions that impact anything beyond their inanimate toys. In the nature science approach, morality is not based on dogma or assumptions that are illogical. If the parents are incapable of presenting a true standard, they should at least refrain from using dogmatic logic and

12 A Canadian transgender father left behind a wife and seven children to begin a new life as a six-year-old girl. Stefonknee (pronounced ‘Stephanie’) Wolschtt, 46, had been married for 23 years when she realized she was transgender. She’s now living with an adoptive family, and says she does not “want to be an adult right now.” See The Independent, Dec. 12, 2015.

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poisoning the mind of the child with inherent falsehoods. As a child grows up with greatest possible of freedom, he or she will be able to develop the purest of logics as he or she grows up to reach puberty. This is the stage marked by incubation phase in terms of natural logic. This is why this age must not be tampered with indoctrination in absurd logics, be it the Trinity or quantum mechanics. Figure 2.19 shows the transition in cognitive ability in humans. The early part of this graph doesn’t have any presence of intention, which is symbolic of the fact that children do not control their intentions. Their innocence is such that they are incapable of having mea culpa. As discussed before, such stage returns once humans become incapacitated with dementia or other ailment that return them to the natural state in which they are not accountable for their actions. The second stage (7–14 years): This is the stage marked with the highest growth rate in mental maturity. At the end of this stage, humans begin to own their control of their intentions, at the same time having a very high degree of inherent affinity to act on conscience. As a sum of these two qualities, this age marks the ‘age of purest logic’. The commonly used word to describe this phase is optimum of innocence and logic. However, the word ‘innocence’ is not different from the ‘original sin’ concept. Humans retain their natural innocence, but they react differently to short-term temptations after reaching puberty. Natural affinity to act on conscience or in harmony of universal order declines in the face of numerous temptations, often characterized as the Trinity of Money, Sex, and Control (Islam et al., 2015). This is the stage that must see the greatest emphasis on engaging children on logical discourse. Instead of shunning their real questions, they should be encouraged to ask real questions. Then they can conduct their own research with logical discourse to come up with answers. Children, at this age, certainly have the aptitude and creativity to conduct high-quality research and come up with answers to problems that have eluded others. This is the stage to engage children with dialogues. This is also the stage to guide them. Guiding is not about disciplining; make them aware of rules and do’s and dont’s. They can be effectively engaged in philosophical questions as to the purpose of life, definition of real success, and all matters involving humanity and human rights. Whenever faced with conforming to existing rules, it’s not enough to present the rules without explaining the logic behind such rules. This is the stage a child is capable of understanding his or her mistakes but not ready to accept a correction in public, especially if it is coming from a person that the child doesn’t trust. Unfortunately, the vast majority of adults that surround children, such as teachers, parents,

A Model for Humanity and Human Behavior 93 Magnitude

Cognitive ability Ability to act on conscience Ownership of intention 0 Puberty

Age Age induced dementia

Figure 2.19 Onset of ownership of intention and transition in cognitive abilities.

and community workers are not trusted by the children. Children cannot be guided by these adults. It is no surprise that they get quickly turned off by them and seek refuge among peer groups or even isolation within the sphere of their cyberspace. The third stage: After age 14, the vast majority of children are scientifically adult, meaning they have reached both mental and physical maturity. They should be treated as such and their human rights must be respected, while expecting them to be responsible and accountable. Even parents should be treating them as friends and responsible adults. As much as they wish them to be a certain way, they should not intervene unless asked for help. This Stage 3 prepares each human to be a full member of the society – a membership that continues until the age of physical or mental incapacitation (Figure 2.19) As can be seen in this figure, at a later stage, when such incapacitation is set in, humans are rendered to vulnerable stages of childhood and must be taken care of with empathy and love, akin to that received by children. Ideally, such care can be given by children; however, bearing in mind that this is not an ideal world, one must consider alternatives. For parents, when they treat a child (0–7) with anything other than love and protection, they shouldn’t be surprised when the child reciprocates at their vulnerable ages. If parents sow the seed of contempt and children are unable to recover and end up taking ‘revenge’ on parents, children become a liability on the aging parents, the same way the children were considered a liability by the parents.

The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering: Applications for Mental Disorder Treatments, Volume 3. M. R. Islam, Jaan S. Islam and G.M. Zatzman. © 2017 Scrivener Publishing LLC. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

3 Chemical Drugs for Mental Health Disorder

3.1 Introduction Mental health disorders involve departure from standard behavior. We have presented the standard in human behavior as the one that is driven by logical and conscientious thoughts, bearing in mind that there is a natural propensity to veer from such thoughts. However, persistent departure from the standard in thinking, emotion, and/or behavior will signal a disorder. When such a disorder interferes with a person’s ability to lead a meaningful life and the person in question remains engrossed in thoughts that are not logical, it is a sign of mental health disorder. The effects of mental illness may be long-lasting or temporary. These disorders are caused by complex interactions between physical, psychological, social, cultural, and hereditary influences. However, as we have discussed in previous volumes of this book series, we do not know what triggers the disorder, nor do we know how that can be repaired. Nearly 50% of adults experience a mental illness at some point in their lives. More than half of these people experience moderate to severe symptoms. In fact, 4 of the 10 leading causes of 95

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disability among people aged 5 and older are mental health disorders, with depression being the number one cause of all illnesses that cause disability. Despite this high prevalence of mental illness, only about 20% of people who have a mental illness receive professional help. We’ll review in this chapter what the professional community has done to help mental health patients. This chapter is restricted to so-called chemical treatments. As we have seen in previous volumes of this book series, causes of mental health disorders are little understood. Compounded with that is the fact that mental health problems are difficult to diagnose and can easily escape query, thereby making professional assessment or even data on mental health unavailable or biased. Mental health issues are a tremendous drain as each person with such symptoms can lose a tremendous amount of time and the society loses collectively. This loss is compounded by the fact that a tremendous amount of money is spent on medications that target mental health patients. Currently, mental illness is thought to be caused by a complex interaction of hereditary and environmental factors. We have seen in previous volumes that intangibles, such as energy source, family and social issues, and chemical imbalance (owing to food anomalies) can play a significant role. The process is compounded by stimulants that are not readily detectable or recognizable, for instance, exposure to computer radiation while being addicted to the Internet. These processes can lead to malfunction of chemical messengers in the brain (neurotransmitters), contributing to mental health disorders. Often, these mental disorders can manifest in the form of physical changes in the brain that are detectable through various imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). However, few studies, if any, study the role of these imaging techniques in triggering an ailment, including mental disorders. Another problem is the fact that humans do not have an individual standard. For instance, how many people have an MRI or PET chart available before they are suspected of having a mental illness? There is a common misunderstanding that mental health disorders can heal themselves or perhaps the patient can ‘wish away’ such an ailment through some rigorous therapy. This false perception comes from the fact that the line between having certain personality traits and having a personality disorder can be blurry. Similar to the unavailability of a MRI and PET chart during the health status of a person, we cannot draw a sharp line when a person deviates from his or her own norm. This chapter aims at presenting data on so-called chemical treatment of the mental health disorder. The focus is on major mental disorders and the role of chemical medications that are commonly used in the health care market.

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3.2 Basic Anatomy Human anatomy can be defined as the study of the human body’s parts (organs, tissues, fluids/other elements, etc.). Human physiology can be defined as the function of parts of the body. Physiology originates from ancient Greek and literally means ‘nature’ or ‘origin’, for physis and logia means ‘study of ’. Ibn Sina used to say ‘Tashrīh’, meaning commentary, dissection, anatomy. Its meaning is more related to the act of opening and studying the body, more hands on. Guide: © = created in that organ (a) = affects the organ

3.2.1 The Brain The brain is the controller of the central nervous system. It sends signals, receives signals, and processes information. It consists of two main parts, the motor part and sensory part; the former directs signals and the latter receives ‘information’. The motor part can be voluntary or autonomic. Relating to the more intangible side, certain reactions/organs are primarily parasympathetic or sympathetic,1 and can relate to pleasure and displeasure caused by drugs, drinking, and so on. All senses are sensed in the brain; primary actions are initiated by the brain. It initiates important endocrine secretions,2 and for this reason, its connection to primary organs and important glands is vitally important in understanding the intangible aspect of health. As we study the main organs and functions, we will see how the brain affects each one.

3.2.2 The Liver The liver is in fact a gland, the largest one in the body. It weighs about 1.5 kg in an adult body, and takes up about 2.5% of body weight. It is located primarily in the right hypochondrium and epigastric regions of the trunk. 1

A parasympathetic reaction is an autonomic signal that causes relatation in the body, which a sympathetic reaction that causes alertness—often activated with fright or extreme pleasure. 2 An endocrine secretion is a hormone secreted by a gland that is related to the brain. It will usually secrete into the blood system directly. They have an effect on behavior, mentality, and other intangible elements.

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering The liver works as a relay station for all nutrients (with the exception of fat); it processes toxic chemicals, stores certain vitamin-process related substances, and plays a large role in metabolism. It also stores glycogen (storage of carbohydrates) and produces bile for fat/lipid digestion. Regarding the filter function, because the liver works as a filter for toxic chemicals collected from the digestive system, it is vulnerable to cirrhosis. This is caused by cellular damage, subsequent scarring, eventually leading the liver cells to die off. Certain artificial substances such as carbon tetrachloride and other artificial solvents cause hepatocytes (liver cells) to be replaced by fat and other tissue, reducing functional ability even further: called hepatic cirrhosis. Alcoholic cirrhosis leads to fibrosis of connective tissue in the liver. However, because the liver has a large reserve, it could be a while after metabolic tests reveal the cirrhosis. Because both solid and liquid ingested have to be reduced to liquid form during the digestion process, the liver is exposed to artificial chemicals that are part of any food or drink ingested. The liver has multiple functions, but two of its main functions within the digestive system are to make and secrete an important substance called bile and to process the blood coming from the small intestine containing the nutrients just absorbed. The liver purifies this blood of many impurities before traveling to the rest of the body. Integral to the liver is the gallbladder. It is a storage sac for excess bile. Bile made in the liver travels to the small intestine via the bile ducts. If the intestine doesn’t need it, the bile travels into the gallbladder, where it awaits the signal from the intestines that food is present. Bile serves two main purposes. First, it helps absorb fats in the diet, and secondly, it carries waste from the liver that cannot go through the kidneys. Hormones related to liver: Angiotensinogen ©, glucagon (a), hepsidin (c), hGH (c), Insulin (a), somatomedin (c), secretin (c), thrombopoietin (c),

3.2.3 The Kidneys The primary function of the kidney is to produce urine. The more interesting components of the kidneys, however, are

Chemical Drugs for Mental Health Disorder their suprarenal glands, which are connected directly to the endocrine system. The kidneys remove excess water, salts, and wastes, while important blood chemicals are returned. The suprarenal glands are yellowish; they secrete a series of hormones. The suprarenal cortex secretes corticosteroids and androgens. They increase and decrease blood pressure, causing the kidneys to increase/decrease solute filtration. Their increasing of blood pressure and volume directly affects the lungs and heart and muscles. Logically, such increases in blood would be in response to a sympathetic reaction (alertness, etc.). The suprarenal medulla (in the suprarenal cortex). They secrete epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline) which is key to activating the ‘flight or fight’ mechanism of our body, creating more alertness, etc., in response to traumatic stress. They increase heart rate, blood pressure, dilate the bronchioles (where air is carried in the lungs), and increase blood flow, preparing for physical exertion (anger may result from a drug that activates this!). Hormones: antidiuretic hormone (a), encephalin (c in suprarenal), erythropoietin (c), parathyroid hormone (a), renin (c&a), thrombopoietin (c), androgen (DHEA) (c), aldosterone (c in suprarenal) (a), calcitriol 1,25 and 25 (c+a).

3.2.4 The Heart The heart is located in between the lungs, more into the left lung. The right/front side receives non-oxygenated blood that is pumped to the lungs, the lungs oxygenate the blood, and send it back to the left/back side of the heart, which is pumped all over the body. It has its own blood supply, through the coronary arteries (that directly branch off of the main blood vessel: aorta), which drain through the coronary sinusoids. The heart has its own pacemaker and the general beat of the heart is initiated and done by certain tissues on the heart itself. However, the beat can be modified by the brain autonomically (involuntarily). This includes both sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve fibers. Sympathetic stimulation increases heart activity/force/flow by Adrergic stimulation:

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering increasing contraction by increasing depolarization of heart muscle cells. Direct adrenergic stimulation (from suprarenal glands=adrenaline and through sympathetic nerve fibres) increases contractility. This also increases blood flow by dilating blood vessels. Parasympathetic fibres release acetylcholine that binds to muscarinic receptors to slow cell depolarization and therefore decrease contractility. Regarding strokes, if a certain part of the body is cut off from supply then it may not work; this depends on the location of the clot. Hormones: vasoactive intestinal peptide (a), atriopeptin (c), brain natriuretic peptide (c)

3.2.5

The Lungs The lungs are a set of two organs located above the diaphragm, surrounded by pleural fluid (which is in between visceral and parietal pleura). They receive un-oxygenated blood, oxygenate it, and send it back to the heart. This can be done at a fast or slow rate, controlled by the upper spinal cord. They can also receive voluntary inputs from the brain, causing deliberate breathing. Certain hormones will dilate or constrict the air pathway (the tracheobronchial tree) with sympathetic or parasympathetic reactions respectively. Hormones: estradiol (a)

3.2.6

The Stomach The stomach is a thickly lined pouch of continuously producing tissue, containing acidic digestive fluid. In addition to holding food, it serves as the mixer and grinder of food. This is the primary area of food breakdown, preparation for digestion. It mechanically (forcefully) and chemically breaks down food; the process can take several hours.3 The gastric juice of the stomach breaks the bolus of food (from mouth and esophagus) into chyme. Parasympathetic reactions

3

Note that drugs, water, and alcohol can be digested through the stomach generally within an hour; this works better on an empty stomach.

Chemical Drugs for Mental Health Disorder increase digestion and sympathetic digestions decrease/ pause digestion temporarily. From the stomach, food moves to the small intestine. Between meals, the non-liquefiable remnants are released from the stomach and ushered through the rest of the intestines to be eliminated. Hormones: Gastrin (a+c), ghrelin ©, vasoactive intestinal peptide (a)

3.2.7 The Small and Large Intestine The small intestine consists of three parts, the duodenum (the site of bile excretion), jejunum (middle section), and ileum (ending). The duodenum also takes important hormone secretion from the pancreas such as digestive enzymes and bicarbonate (to deactivate the gastric juice). They also have endocrine secretions, insulin and glucagon, to increase or decrease body blood sugar, respectively. The effects of these are tremendous, as are the effects of artificial insulin, and artificial sugars. In the small intestine, most of the digestion occurs. In the large intestine, mostly water absorption and fecal solidification occurs. It is important to examine the properties of natural and non-natural laxatives to examine the manner in which they affect large /small intestine absorption. Note that the hormone aldosterone increases solute absorption. Hormones: motilin, somatostatin

3.2.8 Spleen The spleen is a vitally important organ of the body, and is the largest lymphatic organ. The lymphatic system has many operations in the spleen, key to maintaining the immune system. It is located in the hypochondrium and receives important protection from the inferior ribcage. The spleen is key to white blood cell proliferation, immune surveillance and response. It also destroys worn out tomatoes and platelets while recycling the iron and globin. Finally, it functions as a blood reservoir and storage for red blood cells.

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering The rest of the lymphatic system consists of a vast network of lymphatic vessels and smaller lymphatic nodes. Lymphatic nodes can initiate immune responses and proliferate cells to destroy possible foreign threats to the body. They circulate dietary fat, and normally drain and restore interstitial fluid (as a filter). The cells include b-cells and t-cells with several functions, some produce antibodies to detect viruses, while the t-cells are ‘cytotoxic killers’ and do much of the brute force threat elimination (kill foreign particles). Hormones: human chorionic gonadotropin (a), cortisol (a), progesterone (a)

3.2.9

Muscles There are three major types, skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Skeletal muscle is controlled voluntarily. A motor neuron stimulus releases Ca+ and depolarizes the muscle for contraction. Smooth muscle is contracted through hormonal secretions as well as neurotransmitters. Cardiac muscle has its own pacemaker; however, autonomic nervous system signals can increase or decrease the rate of contraction. Hormones: insulin (a), somatostatin (a), thrombopoietin (c), vasoactive intestinal peptide (a), testosterone (a), estradiol (a), cortisol (a), progesterone (a)

3.2.10 Summary of Hormones and Introduction to Neurotransmitters Table 3.1 shows the list of various hormones. These will be more thoroughly discussed when medication for physical diseases is brought up. In the mental illness section we deal with neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters, which are often used in mental illness related and other types of drugs, will be discussed as necessary. Neurotransmitters can simply be defined as the method of communication between neurons. They are chemicals and thus prone to reacting with any chemical or natural drug. They have an overall effect on the behavior and actions of a person. For instance,

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Table 3.1 Various hormones and their effects. Hormone

Effect

Epinephrene

Blood pressure, energy production

Melatonin

Biological clock

T3+T4

Inc. metabolism

Prostaglandins

Blood vessel dilation (prepare of physical excertion)

Luekotrienes

Increases vascular permeability (more exchange between blood and tissues)

Prostacyclin Thromoxane

Blood vessel contriction

Amylin

Decreased food intake, less gastric emptying (food moving to intestines from stomach), withholding of digestive secretion

Mullerian hormone

Witholds release of prolactin+Thyrotropinreleasing hormone

Adiponectin Corticotropin

Corticosteroid synthesis

Angiotensinogen

Vasoconstriction+aldosterone incs.

Vasopressin

Kidney water retention, semi-vasoconstriction, ACTH release from ant. Pit.

Atriopeptin Brain natriuretic peptide

-BP by recuding vascular resistance, blood H2O, Na+ fat

Calcitonin

Construct bone, -Ca+

Cholecystekonin

+Dig. Enzymes from pancreas, bile, hunger suppressent

Cortincotropin releasing hormone

Release ACTH from ant. Pit.

Cortistatin

Less neuronal activity, +slow wave sleep, activates cation selective units not responsive to somatostatin

Enkephalin

Regulate pain

Endothelin

Contraction of med. vessels (Continued)

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Table 3.1 Cont. Hormone

Effect

Follicle stimulating H.

In female stimulates graafian follicles, males=spermatogenisis

Galanin

Inhibition +modulation of action particles in neurons

Gastric inhibitory polypeptide

Induces insulin secretion

Gastrin

Gastric acid sec. parietal cells

Ghrelin

+appetite, +sec growth hormone from ant. Pit.

Glucagon

Glycogenolysis+gluconeogenesis in liver, +blood glucose

Glucagon-like-peptide-1

Stimulates andylyl cyclase pathway+synthesis&release of insulin

Gonadotropin releasing hormone

FSH+LH from ant. Pit.

Hepcidin

Enhibits iron export from cells

Human chorionic gonadotropin

Maintains corpus luteum in pregnancy beg., inhibits immune response to the embryo

Human placental lactogen

+insulin and IGF-1, inc. insulin resistence and carb. intolerance

Growth hormone

Insulin-like growth factor 1 and cell growth stumulation

Inhibin

Inhibit FSH production

Insulin

+glucose intake, glycogenesis+glycolysis in liver and muscle from blood. Lipid+triglyceride intake,

Insulin-like growth factor

Regulate cell growth effects

Leptin

-apetite +metabolism

Lipotropin

Lipolysis+stereodogenisis, produce melanin

Luteinizing H

Female=ovulation Male=testosterone production

Melanocyte stimulating H

Melanogenisis in skin+hair

Motilin

Stimulates gastric activity

Orexin

Increased energy, wakefulness and apetite

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Table 3.1 Cont. Hormone

Effect

Oxytocin

Release breast milk, cervix contraction and vagina, and circadian homeostasis

Pancreatic polypeptide

Regulation of pancreatic sec. Effects gastrointestinal secretions andhepatic glycogen

Parathyroid H.

+blood Ca+: +osteoclasts, Ca2+ resorpiton in kidney, activates vitamin D. Dec. in blood phosphate: decreased uptake in kidney but increases from bones, activate vitamin D

Pituitary adenylate cyclase- Stimulates enterochromaffin-like cells activation polypeptide Prolactin

Milk production

Prolactin releasing H

Release prl from ant. Pit.

Relaxin

Unclear in humans

Renin

Activates renin-angiotensin system by making angiotensin

Secretin

Activates liver bicarbonate secretion, pancreas and Brunner’s glands. Enchances cholecystokinin

Somatostatin

Lowers rate of gastric empyiying, reduces smooth muscle contractions and blood in intestine, insulin release, glucagon release, suppress exocrine secretions of pancreas.

Thrombopoietin

Produce platelets

Thyropropin

Secrete T4&T3

Thyrotropin releasing H

Release TSH which increases metabolism

Vasoactive intestinal peptide

+heart contractility, vasodilation, +energy production, lowers blood pressure, relaxes smooth muscle in stomach, gallbladder and trachea.

Testosterone

Muscle mass growth, bone density+, maturization of sex organs, deepening of voice, etc.

Dehydroepioandrosterone

Development of sex differences

Androstenedione

Helps estrogen

Dihydrotestosterone

Matures prostate and bulbourethral glands, seminal vesicles, penis and scrodum (Continued)

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Table 3.1 Cont. Hormone

Effect

Aldosterone

Increase in blood volume by Na+ resorption; potassium and H+ secretion of the kidney

Estradiol

Female: prmote formation of secondary sex charcs. +height +metabolism –muscle mass, +uterine and endometrial growth, +blood coagulation factors, salt, sodium and water retention, cordisol and SHBG and growth hormone, supports lung alveoli. Males: prevents apoptosis of germ cells.

Estrone Estriol Cortisol

Increased glucose uptake in muscle and fat tissue. Immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory, encourages fat breakdown, mobilization of aminoacids and tissues outside the liver.

Progesterone

Support pregnancy through several ways including body preparation, support during pregnancy and through labor. Even prevention of endometrial cancer, immune reaction initiation and homeostasis.

Calcitriol

Active form of vitamin D3: +apsorption of calcium and phosphate from GI tract and kidneys, inhibit PTH release.

Calcidiol

Inactive form of vitamin D3

dopamine is related to emotional arousal and pleasure. Serotonin regulates appetite, sleep, memory and learning, temperature, mood, behavior, and muscle contraction. It also helps with function of the cardiovascular and endocrine systems. It also has a role in depression, as antidepressants often increase serotonin neurotransmission and depressed patients usually have less of it. They can be thought of as different types of light bulbs—all have the same function; however, they have a different effect. Essentially, nothing is known about the mechanism of effect (the smallest particles and how they generate emotions); this is much too intangible. However, that can be said is that dopamine and serotonin are ‘hypothesized’ or ‘believed to be linked to’ depression (Tye et al., 2013).

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3.3 Antidepressants Even though it is well recognized that there is no cure for mental ailments, numerous antidepressants are available for prescription. In fact, chemical drugs are synonymous with psychiatry and go hand in hand with psychotherapy. The following are some of the depression medications (antidepressants) available in the United States (a comprehensive list is available at the webMD website): Abilify (ariprazole) – used in combination with antidepressants Adapin (doxepin) Anafranil (clomipramine) Aplenzin (bupropion) Asendin (amoxapine) Aventyl HCI (nortriptyline) Celexa (citalopram) Cymbalta (duloxetine) Desyrel (trazodone) Effexor XR (venlafaxine) Emsam (selegiline) Etrafon (perphenazine and amitriptyline) Elavil (amitriptyline) Endep (amitriptyline) Fetzima (levomilnacipran) Khedezla (desvenlafaxine) Latuda (lurasidone) – an atypical antipsychotic drug used to treat bipolar depression Lamictal (lamotrigine) – an anticonvulsant drug sometimes used to treat or prevent bipolar depression Lexapro (escitalopram) Limbitrol (amitriptyline and chlordiazepoxide) Marplan (isocarboxazid) Nardil (phenelzine) Norpramin (desipramine) Oleptro (trazodone) Pamelor (nortriptyline) Parnate (tranylcypromine) Paxil (paroxetine) Pexeva (paroxetine) Prozac (fluoxetine) Pristiq (desvenlafaxine) Remeron (mirtazapine)

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Sarafem (fluoxetine) Seroquel XR (quetiapine) – an atypical antipsychotic drug used in combination with antidepressants Serzone (nefazodone) Sinequan (doxepin) Surmontil (trimipramine) Symbyax (fluoxetine and the atypical antipsychotic drug olanzapine) Tofranil (imipramine) Triavil (perphenazine and amitriptyline) Trintelllix (vortioxetine) Viibryd (vilazodone) Vivactil (protriptyline) Wellbutrin (bupropion) Zoloft (sertraline) Zyprexa (olanzapine) – with fluoxetine to make Symbyax, and may have value when added to other antidepressants to enhance their effects The following section discusses a critical review of selected antidepressant drugs.

3.3.1 Overview of Antidepressant Drugs There are a number of categories of these antidepressant drugs. They are discussed under each category.

3.3.1.1 Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors The first type of drug, perhaps one of the most famous and commonly used, are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Common drug names are Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Lexapro, Luvox, and Viibyrd. They are commonly used as antidepressants for major depressive disorders and anxiety disorders. This drug does not target hormones, but neurotransmitters. Specifically, they are believed to increase the level of the neurotransmitter serotonin. This is because it seems to have antidepressant effects on people. As it inhibits adenlylyl cyclase, domapine release goes up (more pleasure), while aggression, anxiety, depression, and schizophrenic symptoms go down—these are the effects on the 5-HT1A receptor. On the other hand, on the 5-HT2 receptor family, the same drug will increase psychedelia, anxiety, and positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. On other receptors in the same family however, antipsychotic effects go down and antidepressant effects go up (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Serotonin).

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There are dozens of known (and obviously unknown) side effects that are listed on the website, drugs.com. It mentions that “Antidepressants may have a role in inducing worsening of depression and the emergence of suicidality in certain patients during the early phases of treatment” (http:// www.drugs.com/sfx/prozac-side-effects.html). In the ‘very common’ section (10% or more), the following are side effects: Anxiety, insomnia, nervousness; Common (1% to 10%): Abnormal dreams, disturbance in attention, emotional lability, feeling abnormal, restlessness, sleep disorder, tension, thinking abnormal; Uncommon (0.1% to 1%): Akathisia, apathy, bruxism, depersonalization, elevated mood, euphoria, hostility, intentional overdose, manic reaction, neurosis, paranoid reaction, personality disorder, psychomotor hyperactivity, psychosis, suicide attempt; Rare (less than 0.1%): Agitation, antisocial reaction, delusions, hallucinations, hypomania, intentional injury, mania, panic attacks. Frequency not reported: Dysphemia, suicidal thoughts and behavior. In postmarketing reports: Confusion, violent behaviors, etc. Mania and suicidal behavior are rare and serious adverse effects (Lensgraf and Favazz, 1990; Morton et al., 1993; Ceylan and Maner, 2010). On Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_serotonin_reuptake_inhibitor, we see under the depression section, anxiety section, and even the premature ejaculation section, that serotonin reuptake inhibitors can be very useful for such disorders. On the other hand, there are hundreds of studies listed that say that suicide, bleeding, and sexual dysfunction are adverse effects. Note that a sedative is usually prescribed along with Prozac to mitigate anxiety and agitation produced by the drug (Benzodiazapene4 is common). Another administered drug to tackle a physical side effect is Nexium (esomeprazole5). Even though this drug is the newly marketed, often seen as ‘newly improved’ antidepressant drug, even in terms of delivering a short-term antidepressant effect (what is needed to qualify as an antidepressant), it has proved to be inefficient. Even ignoring the side effects, such as, personality changes, sexual dysfunction, and others, these drugs simply don’t deliver even the short-term remedy to the ailment. There is a rare but very significant literature review questioning the actual effectiveness of SSRIs (Lacasse

4 Valium and diazepam (Benzodiazepines) are discussed in the adverse effects conclusions, more specifically, when discussing the absurdity of medications for side effects of drugs themselves. 5 This may even cause medications for medications used to mitigate side effects! This is because of the long list of side effects.

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and Leo, 2005). They found that there is no scientific evidence correlating depression or any mental disorder to serotonin levels, and found some interesting evidence related to the effectiveness of the drug. They quoted psychiatrists with doubts, reports, and looked into important resources (such as The Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry), and found no SSRI, or at least very overstated SSRI, positive effects.6 Even regarding the ‘short-term buzz’ delivered by the drug, there are studies that show that they are no better than trycyclic antidepressants (Geddes et al., 2005), tetracyclic depressants (Karvoussi et al., 1997), or nonepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (Schatzberg, 2000; Michael et al., 2014). Although there are conflicting reports, it is expected that there will be several viewpoints and methods, and biases. However, given the recent marketization of SSRIs, it seems more than likely that it would be prone to biases. There are several articles going over the exact biases and problems with medication marketing. However, they will be briefly reviewed in another section. All that needs to be established here is that even in terms of short-term, tangible effectiveness of the drug, there are several questions raised. Biases are also discussed later; for now it is simply important to keep this in mind.

3.3.1.2 Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs) It has been proposed that SNRIs are even more effective (Papakostas et al., 2007) than SSRIs, and have less side effects (Nemeroff et al., 2007). However, it is true that many of the side effects are similar to SSRIs because of the similar effect of increasing serotonin levels. One of the primary chemical names under the section is Venlafaxine, used by Effexor (12th most prescribed drug in the United States in 2009: https://cpmc.coriell.org/assets/ pdfs/clopidogrel-top-drugs.pdf). Again, although it is a very commonly used drug to treat depression and anxiety, its side effects are very similar. In fact, this was such a problem that anti-depressant drugs (including this group) were required to have a ‘black box warning’, a warning issued regarding drugs with ‘significant risk of serious or even life-threatening adverse effects’ (“Guidance for industry. Warnings and precautions, contraindications, and boxed warning sections of labeling for human prescription drug and biological products—content and format”). From (https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venlafaxine):

6

This could also mean that serotonin levels are not necessarily correlated to depression. We discuss this issue in “something left to say about serotonin”.

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A 2014 meta analysis of 21 clinical trials of venlafaxine for the treatment of depression in adults found that compared to placebo, venlafaxine reduced the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior.[24] A study conducted in Finland followed more than 15,000 patients for 3.4 years. Venlafaxine increased suicide risk by 60% (statistically significant), as compared to no treatment. At the same time, fluoxetine (Prozac) halved the suicide risk.

Another adverse effect is the serotonin syndrome (Perry, 2000), effects on human psychological balance when such a neurotransmitter’s usage is altered. It is possibly life threatening (Buckley et al., 2014), and can increase the chance of seeing several other symptoms including aggression (which it should theoretically decrease), impulsive behaviors, and other things leading to suicide (Pandey et al., 2014). “Dopaminergic” drugs, literally means drugs related to dopamine, the neurotransmitter. Other than its anatomic and physiological role, it has an important role in human behavior. It is known that reward-motivated behavior is directly related to dopamine; rewarding memory activates dopamine, it’s then stored in the memory for the next time a person sees such a thing. To make it more clear, in the issue of ‘response selection theory’7—it allows for the brain to prioritize. A higher dopamine level suggests that the impetus to the possible action is easier. Repetitive motor behavior is attributed to this. This makes someone with higher dopamine for the action, more impulsive to do it. This relates to schizophrenia and psychosis. Abnormally high levels of dopamine tend to correlate to people with such disorders (Tost et al., 2010, although still a working theory). Antipsychotic medications work to block the transmittion of dopamine (it is stuck at the synaptic cleft), thereby blocking the release. They affect mainly the D2 receptors (Williams.edu, see references), some block the release while others work to not allow the cell to recognize (and therefore utilize) dopamine. Common dopamine reuptake inhibitors include Bupropion (brand name Wellburton). Ironically, the very first side effect listed on drugs.com (drugs.com/sfx/wellbutrin-side-effects. html) is anxiety. Other non-physical effects include restlessness, trouble sleeping, extreme distrust of people, false beliefs that cannot be changed by facts, confusion, trouble concentrating, actions out of control, and unusual feeling of well-being. Doubly ironically, lack of trust in others and an unusual feeling of well-being are shown in people with paranoid personality disorder (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoid_personality_disorder). The drugs. 7

Response selection theory is the generally accepted theory that the basal ganglia portion of the brain basically decides which of the several options available is to be executed.

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com link above also cites an observation made by the Australian Adverse Drug Reaction Advisory Committee which “reported that 285 of the 780 reports it received in association with bupropion (the active ingredient contained in Wellbutrin) through mid-May 2001 involved psychological disturbances” (Drugs.com page on wellbutrin). In terms of imbalance of the nervous system8, the same committee reported that 268 of the 780 reports it received in association with bupropion involved nervous system disorders. For example, “Two cases of elderly patients falling backwards have been attributed to the effects of bupropion on the basal ganglia” and “Grand mal seizures have been reported in 0.4% of patients undergoing bupropion therapy at dosages up to 450 mg daily” (for details see Wirshing and Szuba, 1992; Golden et al., 1985; van Putten and Shaffer, 2006; Charuvastra and Yaeger, 2006; Bittman and Young, 1991). The above reports do not include suicidal behavior. However, contemplated and attempted suicides have been reported as a side effect, as per the FDA’s report on Wellbutrin: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/ DrugSafety/ucm089824.pdf, pages 28–31.

3.3.1.3 Tetracyclic Antidepressants Another type of marketed antidepressants is the tetracyclic antidepressant drug. Named after its chemical structure of four rings of atoms and introduced in the 1970s, it is a less common but still used form of antidepressant. In that category are the “Noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressant” drugs. They target the a2 adrenergic receptors and also affect the 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C serotonin receptors (Robert, 2004). These drugs block the α2-adrenergic receptors and thereby promote adrenergic and serotonergic neurotransmission9 (Robert, 2004). Currently, the most common form is the chemical Mirtazapine (brand names: Avanza, Axit, Mirtaz, Mirtazon, Remeron, Zispin). They are used to treat severe depression and mood disorders such as depression, generalized anxiety disorder, OCD, PTSD, and others. There are several non-physical side effects, although the physical ones greatly overwhelm the intangible. They include Paresthesia10 on all extremities and even orally, insomnia and lack of REM

8

Due to physical alteration—not allowing the release of dopamine/adding ‘kufr’ (opacity) by not allowing cells to recognize dopamine. 9 Adrenergic means having a similar effect or promoting adrenialine/ nonadrenaline-like effects. Serotenergic means increasing serotonin transmission. 10 Abnormal sensations, typically tingling or pricking feelings caused chiefly by pressure on or damage to peripheral nerves.

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sleep, somnolence, headache, dizziness, abnormal dreams and thinking, confusion and tremor, and even mania and seizures (Remeron, drugs. com). Recent publications by Hansen et al., 2005, Gulsun and Doruk, 2008, and Montgomery, 1995, are excellent reads in support of this notion. Other side effects on the drug.com site (for Remeron) include “mood or mental changes, including anger, feelings of being outside the body, hallucinations (seeing, hearing, or feeling things that are not there), mood swings, and unusual excitement” and “mood or mental changes, including abnormal thinking, agitation, anxiety, confusion, and feelings of not caring,” showing anything but a cured mind, not even from depression, not even in the short term.

3.3.1.4 Tricyclic Antidepressants Another set of common antidepressants is tricyclic antidepressants, again named after their atomic chemical structure (there rings of atoms). They were first discovered in the 1950s, and marketed from the 1960s to the present (Carson, 2000). It was also used as an antipsychotic, which makes sense due to its similarity in function to the SNRIs, meaning that the drug is theorized to encourage serotonin neurotransmission and increased nonepinephrene secretions. Due to its similarity to other drugs, namely TCAs and SSRIs, the side effects of tricyclic antidepressants are similar (Trindade et al., 1998). We see that a commonly marketed chemical (that is tricyclic) ‘Amitriptyline’ (brandnames: Elavil Pamelor, Sinequan, and Imipramine) has similar side effects. Namely, more serious psychiatric effects such as hypomania, visual hallucinations, Suicidal ideation, paradoxical aggressiveness, and mental status changes. Important references are available at http://www.drugs.com/sfx/elavil-side-effects.html#refs. Researchers, such as Holmes and Fricchione, 1989; and Hemmingsen and Rafaelsen, 1980, have documented these side effects. These effects are summarized as (from drug.com article on Elavil): ‘Nervous system side effects are among the most common. Drowsiness, dizziness, sedation and fatigue occur commonly. Delirium, tinnitus, sleep abnormalities, cognitive impairment (especially in the elderly), a tardive dyskinesia-like syndrome, dystonic reactions and seizures have also been reported’.

3.3.1.5 Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors Another family of prominent mental illness drugs are ‘Monoamine oxidase inhibitors’. They are known for treating depression, especially successful at atypical depression (Cristancho, 2013). They have also been used for other disorders including Parkinson’s disease as well as other social/mental

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disorders, including panic disorder, social phobia, anxiety, bulimia, and PTSD. This class is older than the Tetracyclic, SSRI, and SNRI classes of antidepressants. This type of drug is known to be the last line of drug treatment, once all other types of antidepressant (and other) drugs have failed (as said by the University of Michigan Depression Center: http://www.depressiontoolkit.org/treatmentoptions/medication/antidepressants.asp). This is attributed to their long track record of adverse effects, and potentially lethal dietary and drug interactions. Regarding its process, it eventually does things similar to other drugs discussed (affects neurotransmitters). However, it inhibits the activity of monoamine oxidase, leading to an increase in availability of monoamine neurotransmitters, by preventing breakdown of those neurotransmitters, thereby improving communication. Such a move of course has direct and indirect effects. An example of an indirect effect would be low blood pressure, as tyramine (that helps maintain BP) is unable to properly function with the presence of MAOIs. For this, patients have to watch their blood pressure and be given dietary restrictions, which could lead to a hypertensive crisis (Grady, 2012). Also, amino acids such as Typtophan should not be allowed for as a supplement (or consumption, common sense) as it could lead to the potentially fatal serotonin syndrome (Grady, 2012). There are dozens of potential drug and food reactions with negative effects, so it is a general understanding that the diet should be watched. A commonly marketed Monoamine oxidase inhibitor drug11 is the chemical Phenelzine under the common brand names Nardil and Nardelzine, a common antidepressant and anxiolytic. A look at the side effects shows that confusion and sudden jerky body movements are (nonphysical) ‘more common’ side effects, while others include change in consciousness, disorganized thought, dizziness, drowsiness, false or unusual sense of well-being, lack of emotion or feelings (schizophrenia!), no emotion or expression in speech, seeing or hearing things not there, or uncontrolled eye movements (Drugs.com article on Nardil). Several of these are obviously symptoms for other diseases, for instance, lack of emotion and hearing things are symptoms of schizophrenia; we might be seeing a possible induced disease. There are of course several other physical and mental imbalances that will ultimately lead to greater problems. Of course the majority of people do not experience such effects; however, the very existence of these effects implies that the drug affects the body in a neg-

11

It’s important to note that there are dozens of brand names and chemicals that have been discontinued, such as Iproclozide (reported deaths: Kaplowitz and group), Phenoxypropazine discontinues due to hepatotoxicity concerns (IMLAH and group).

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ative way. No doubt, the alteration of neurotransmitters leads to several imbalances (the person cannot function normally), and therefore adverse effects. These adverse effects are then mitigated through new medications, and so on; this will be discussed later. The bottom line is that clearly, medications create an off-balance of the natural order of a person, whether he be normal already, or not normal (similar to how chemotherapy affects a person if he or she has cancer or not).

3.3.1.6

Serotenergic Drugs/Agents

The final class of antidepressants that will be discussed are novel serotenergic drugs or agents. Similar to some other antidepressants, this group is also believed to stimulate the release of neuronal serotonin (Nichols et al., 1993). Such agents may be assigned to people already under serotonin uptake inhibitors for possible ‘therapeutic utility’ (Nichols et al., 1993). Generally used to treat depression, it has been marketed only since 2013. Studies have found that it was effective over a placebo for several different types of audiences/a variety of tests (Katona et al., 2012), and even works better than the typical SSRIs and SNRIs (Montgomery et al., 2014). Although there are other studies contradicting these for anxiety, the majority (including the FDA and Canada) of scientists agree that it has a beneficial effect on depressed patients, the reason for current marketing under the brand names Brintellix (US) and Trintellix (Canada). No drug comes without its ‘adverse effects’. Again, there are several physical side effects. Note that because the drug is quite new, there are several side effects with an unknown incidence rate, and obviously unknown side effects themselves. The following is a list of known intangible/mental side effects: Listed (Brintellix article in drugs.com) Difficulties in sexual desire and performance (up to 34%) Abnormal dreams (1–10%) Mania, hypomania (low serotonin, reduce (in rodents) aggression acutely but increase it chronically, it potentiates anxiety in healthy people but chronically decreases it (although this is disputed because anxiety is a part of the side effects). These all support the theory of counterbalancing actions of the body producing the effects. Page 175. In early stages of treatment ADMs performed worse than a placebo in two studies. The general notion supported by other reviews tell us that symptoms seem to get worse before they get better. This is when extracellular levels of serotonin occur, when ‘improvement’ kicks in a few weeks later, serotonin levels go down, supporting the ‘high serotonin hypothesis’ again. More specifically, “The acute (direct) effects of SSRI treatment disrupt energy homeostasis by exacerbating glutamatergic activity in frontal brain regions, which, according to the glutamate hypothesis (Popoli et al., 2012), should worsen symptoms”. Then the brain develops compensatory responses, specifically, [B]oth the reduction in the synthesis of serotonin and the tonic activation of the 5-HT1A heteroreceptor act to reverse the elevated glutamatergic activity induced by the direct effects of SSRI treatment. If the 5-HT1A heteroreceptor is still activated as extracellular serotonin returns to baseline over chronic treatment, glutamatergic activity would fall below equilibrium conditions (Figure 3.1D), producing an actual antidepressant effect. We therefore explain the symptom reducing effects of ADMs as due to the brain’s attempts to restore energy homeostasis.

This tells us several important things. Firstly, it questions and proves that low serotonin is not an observable phenomenon in people with depression, let alone being the cause. They even propose the opposite, because there is evidence that people with low levels of serotonin transmission are not depressed, and due to lack of knowledge of serotonin

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concentrations in the brain, it is safe to say that low serotonin is not the root cause of depression, although it may be common. As stated in previous volumes as well, the root cause must be intangible as anybody can suffer from depression under certain circumstances, whether or not certain groups of people may be able to cope wth it is irrelevant, the fact stands (see Volume 1 on the reason why depression is caused by fear and helplessness). Anyway, because the treatment of depression must come from the root and not the symptoms, the whole use of any serotonin transmission modifiers are not useful for curing the disorder (even if the puzzlepiece effect was not real). Proof of antidepressants not targeting the root is found in the above excerpt and below under the section “Additional Concerns”. There is nobody confirming that serotonin levels relate to depression, and it is only ‘presumed’ that inhibiting reuptake causes less depression (which scientifically is not the case as the study above demonstrated). There are some who did do research to reexamine the several decades-old serotonin hypothesis. Mahar et al., found that “5-HT neurotransmission may well serve as one of the factors that could drive neurogenesis-dependent antidepressant effects through these stress regulation-related mechanisms” by examining hippocampus neurotransmission, more specifically 5HTA transmitter sensitivity. However, it’s important to understand that there is no new discovery. Yes, they went into a lot more detail and used newer, better technology than in 1965, but they were unable to find any correlation between serotonin levels and depression. They are only able to say chronic stress leading to depression has an effect on 5-HT activity, and that ‘some of these effects are reversed by antidepressant treatment’ which “may act by increasing hippocampal neurogenesis”. The same conclusions were made in 1965. There is no detail on how depression correlates (if it does) to brain activity or even the reason why antidepressants theoretically produce antidepressant effects. Other studies, for example one looking into 5-HTA activity following mood-stabilization treatment (Nugent et al., 2013), found that it increased. This led them to the conclusion that “mood stabilizers enhance 5-HT1A receptor expression in BD [bipolar disorder], which may underscore an important component of these agents’ mechanism of action”. This type of cause and effect is faulty and is a product of ‘kufr’, not going into enough detail to find the source of the problems, as was done above. From a theoretical perspective, scientists would not be examining the properties of artificial medications (knowing they are bad). When we discuss bias, these guys’ conflicts of interest are important to note. More importantly, they try to use their small sample sizes, specifically

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BD19 (bipolar disease) related report to enforce the unconfirmed notion of SSRIs increasing serotonergic activity. The above studies confirm it is not the case. We weigh the above papers more than studies such as this, because they are extensive reviews covering several topics, and because they look further into the mechanism of action of SSRIs. A double-blind, randomized, crossover designed study by Hasler et  al. (2015) attempted to examine the pathology of depression (relating to 5-HTA receptors) through neuroimaging procedures. They found that “serotonin and catecholamines play common and differential roles in the pathophysiology of depression”. And they proposed the notion of having dual and triple reuptake of serotonin in drugs. They did not find anything significant, again that there is a relation between serotonin and depression and the overall psyche (which is expected as everything affects everything in the human body). Looking deeper into the cause and reaction side, according to the above 2015 study, dual and triple uptake would have a much worse effect on the body. These guys seem to be obessed with the idea of ‘increasing the dose’ based on the assumption that reuptake inhibition helps depression. Due to their lack of knowledge (or interest) in the cause and effect portion of human physiology, they believe that just because there is a connection, the pharmeutical companies are right, and increasing the dose/effectiveness will help. Even the extreme, pro-pharmaceutical industry studies have not been able to truly find the function of antidepressants. One article, “Antidepressant Effects on Emotional Temperament: Toward a Biobehavioral Research Paradigm for Major Depressive Disorder”, the authors, with hundreds of Disclosures relating to their research support from pharmaceutical companies, advisory and consulting jobs with pharmaceutical companies, equity holdings, royalty/patent/other income from pharmaceutical companies, and speaking/publishing with pharmaceutical companies, have the declaration of no conflict of interest. Bias is an important issue; the concerns regarding that are discussed near the end of the chapter. Their study attempted to examine the effects of antidepressants on human emotion, and “propose a biobehavioral research paradigm for the treatment of MDD”. They were able to acknowledge the short-term ‘antidepressant effects’ of SSRIs, “Antidepressant-induced changes in emotional temperament independently contribute to depression improvement”. They found this by observing a connection between depression scores and SSRI consumption. There was no detailed neurological analysis.

19

This is an entirely new paradigm, what it said about bipolar causes and medications does not apply to SSRIs or antidepressants.

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After searching into related literature that claims to tie SSRIs and depression/ emotions, there are a few isolated cases of studies that found an increase in neurotransmission after patients took SSRIs, and others that reexplained the serotonin hypothesis due to cause and effect; no physiology is discussed. It seems that it is an unknown area of research for the most part; mainstream researchers are only able to propose that there are connections to inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin/increasing serotonin neurotransmission to depression. However, the exact mechanism by which SSRIs are able to cure depression by increasing serotonin levels cannot be confirmed. Neither can the notion that an increase in serotonin neurotransmission is the cause for decrease in depression. Instead, as Andrews et al. (2015) tell us (and our research), the serotonin levels do not correlate to depression and in fact have several other functions and purposes to deal with, and the SSRI mechanism of action is different to what it was originally perceived to be (result of counterbalancing). Perhaps the paper that summarizes all of the recent and old reports on the mainstream view is Ma (2015), which looked into clinical trials and neuroimaging studies, and attempted to end the issue of conflicting findings regarding responses to antidepressants, specifically SSRIs and SNRIs. Another goal was to explain the mechanism (clear confusion) that causes antidepressant effects. Sixty fMRI neuroimaging studies before February 2013 were examined. Ma found that studies using SSRI effects and facial stimuli found “increased activity in response to positive emotions” and vice versa. In healthy versus mood disorder patients, the positive = increased activity and negative=decreased activity was “statistically overlapping”. In conclusion, according to the statistics of neuroimaging reports, the case was certainly that human brain activity correlated positively to emotions. Tang et al. eloquently describes the mainstream studies such as the ones examined in this chapter (Ma 2015, Hasler et al., 2015, Mahar et al., Nugent et al., 2013) by saying that, “[r]ecent research has suggested that hippocampal neurogenesis may play a role in antidepressant action. However, careful examination of the literature suggests that the complex biological and psychological changes associated with depression cannot be attributed to disturbance in hippocampal neurogenesis alone” (Tang et al., 2011). As of 2015 there was still no confirmation or evidence proving the connection between serotonergic activity and brain function, and depression. Yes, 5-HTP transmission and antidepressant effects connect in general; however, the exact mechanism is unknown, and finding this is key to knowing the real function of SSRIs. Walker (2014) discussed “Evidence linking therapeutic limitations of the SSRIs to the monoamine theory of depression” in section seven.

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Similar to Andrews et al., they point out a problem found by other authors, the lag-time between SSRI administration and antidepressant effect. Also, they mention inconsistent results have taken place when measuring depression in effect to depleting 5-HT. Regarding the monoamine thesis, the 1970s experienced a major reformulation of the thesis, more specifically; the theory went from proposing that a depletion of monoamines was the cause of depression, to a decrease in signal transduction. This caused a shift in research towards the physiology behind how 5-HTT blockage caused changes in certain receptors. Of course, we know that there is no specific evidence behind a monoamine depletion and depression. Walker attempts to explain the lack of evidence correlating monoamine depletion and depression by suggesting the critiques don’t see the possibility of that being a “polysynaptic-mediated abnormality proposed several decades ago”. This is exactly the point of the critiques, however; there is no sufficient evidence to back up the monoamine deficiency hypothesis, and proposed speculation is not enough to base a medication on. He himself admits to this.20 He also tries to explain the gap-time between the therapeutic effects and antidepressant administration through a proposed theory that changes in reception density cause the delay (of course it is not considered that these were reactions of the body to medication), Andrews et al. explains several of the physiological effects of antidepressants in the next section. There are several papers that acknowledge the issue of the ineffectiveness of SSRIs and that challenge the serotonin and monoamine theses altogether. We looked at a few papers, and there are a few more that should be summarized. Harmer and Cowen (2013) discuss the overall issue of antidepressants and their mechanism, and go into more detail pertaining to the neurophysiological accounts. They make several compelling arguments. They acknowledge the limitations of current research regarding antidepressants and serotonin: that we have only been able to establish “the fact that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have antidepressant effects in some patients supports the notion that serotonin plays a role in the mode of action of antidepressant drugs” and that “data suggest that serotonin potentiation may be sufficient to produce a clinical antidepressant action but it is not necessary”. Simply put, as stated before, there is no evidence able to find a proven mechanism of action

20

“However, it is recognized that acute monoamine depletion studies are not capable, by themselves, of delivering unequivocal evidence that disruption of monaminergic transmission plays a causal role in the emergence of depression.”

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of SSRIs; we can only tell there is a connection of serotonin potentiation to short-term, superficial antidepressant effects, not the real mode of action causing such a result. They look into the reason for the therapeutic effect—consumption time gap being several weeks long. They say it cannot be due to acute effects of the drug (“within hours of the first dose of treatment”) and therefore must be due to a series of physiological mechanisms. Although acute serotonin potentiation is found (the mainstream), because of the likeliness of acute effects not being the reason to cause ‘antidepressant effects’ they try to attribute dietary manipulation (that forces serotonin potentiation to slow) to causing depression, coming to the conclusion that it must be due to a decrease in potentiation. However, because these patients have already gotten sued to the medications and original acute malfunctions of the body (they have been programmed), it makes sense that this could be due to a simple disequilibrium effect on the body. Furthermore current research (Andrews et al., 2015) suggests an actual natural decrease in serotonin potentiation after chronic treatment; surely this would have impacted this study’s hypothesis for this effect. It should also be noted that effects originally affecting the body by SSRIs are connected to the longer-term effects, as recent research showed antidepressant effects within a week (who said a week isn’t enough to screw up a body system?). They went over acute effects on the psyche of a person through outside observation (face emotion imagery) and neuroimaging to get an idea. In healthy patients, “fearful face recognition and startle responses were enhanced” whereas it has also been known to do the opposite. In neuroimaging studies, amygdala response to fear is decreased with SSRI administration, and others found the exact opposite. Their explanation is that the facial expression anxiety did not include amygdala, and that if amygdala increased, it must have decreased face response because the amygdala levels have reached a ‘ceiling level’. They urge more detail; this is all that happens out of the study of the tangible. In the long term, the effects were largely positive. In summary, after more discussion, they found that in healthy patients acute and long-term positive drug effects had gone up, while the opposite is found in the short term for depressed patients. In conclusion there are several points made; however, the boldest would be the attribution of positive/negative effects of antidepressants being subject to the personal biases of how a person sees life, the intangible. Because of the several reports pertaining to the issue of the value of life (major player in depression) see it as a function of the biases of the person. It is even possible that getting rid of the bias may be key to finding the true cause—effect of SSRIs.

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Branchi (2011) conducted a literature review that looks at the effects of serotonin levels and SSRIs on neuroplasticity. We learn several facts and interesting observations: There is strong evidence telling us that monoamines, especially the serotonin system, are correlated to depression. However, low levels cannot be tied to depression or mood disorders, calling for a “substantial revision of the monoamine theory of depression”. They see depression to be a function of neural plasticity. In the sense that if one is able to boost neuroplasticity, it can cause antidepressant effects. Tang et al. refuted that by saying one cannot conclude quickly that it is a function of hippocampal function; there are several effects that need to be considered (Andrews et al., 2015, covers them in detail). He attributes this, at least partially, to serotonin levels. However, serotonin levels or neuroplasticity does not cause the antidepressant effect. Simply put, it enhances the ability of the person to be susceptible to the environment: [A]n individual treated with SSRI is more affected by the environmental stimuli, both positive and negative (Figure 3.1). In this view, SSRIs are effective in treating major depression because an enhanced patient’s reactivity to the environment allows, in the case of a positive environment, to be profoundly and beneficially affected by it. Overall, this view leads to the assumption that enhancing serotonin levels is not the direct cause of recovery from depression but the permissive factor.

Axioms

Inferences

C

Theory

Hypothesis

B F Mind

Abstract world

A

Figure 3.1 Reconstructing reality.

Real world

D Research design

E

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Environment of the person is crucially important. Due to several conflicting reports on hippocampal activity and depression (Ma and others discussed), it makes sense the environment is a key factor. There is a discussion of several reports and scientific explanations as to how negative and positive views of life affect the brain. Note that in our discussion of the heart, depression may also affect it. This is the essence of the for-better-or-for-worse model of depression. Serotonin levels affect neuroplasticity, which affects the intangible. So the start and finish of the disease is ultimately the intangible. Instead of seeing SSRIs as a way to help change the intangible, we will see if it’s possible with other medications, but more important, see if the intangible is able to once again change the tangible to reverse depression. This also explains the ‘paradox’ as to why SSRIs can decrease depression leading to suicide, but suicide is also a side effect of it. From the objective view, this paper is great in explaining several perceived paradoxes; however, it does not consider the physical physiological effects of the drugs. It tells us again that the environment or the intangible is a key factor; however, there are several physiological details that are able to explain some of the findings. For instance, the same drug can increase and decrease the ‘chance’ of depression. It can be explained by the fact that SSRIs agonize 5-HT1A and 5-HT1B receptor types. In conclusion, it is important to see the intangible as the overall driver, and it is also important to see the long-range impact of SSRIs (and other drugs) and discredit it for its puzzle-piece effect. The final places to look into literature are the theories revolving around how intangible emotions can affect the body physically. There is not much, but still some theory regarding why depression may occur. One of the major problems behind stating such a theory as an evidence, is that there is not ‘physical evidence’, or dogma, to explain it. We will look into some contemporary and older theories to ascertain the reason that depression occurs. Harvard health has a publication “What causes depression?” It goes over all of the potential causes for depression and contemporary findings. Of course there is the typical neuroscience discussion, such as discussion of the parts of the brain that affect mood and nerve cell communication. The authors attribute the cause of depression or mental problems altogether to a malfunctioning of neurotransmitters. Regarding depression, the most they are willing to say about serotonin is that “Research supports the idea that some depressed people have reduced serotonin transmission.” This has already been discussed. They also go into the typical gene issue, and how

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there is promising evidence (like all the others say) that you can attribute a chance of getting depression to the family members; we’ve already discussed this in the previous books. Getting into the issue of the intangible, they discuss theories relating to how a person may feel depressed based on their unacknowledged assumptions (first premise). More interestingly, there is the issue of stress. They discuss how stressful life events can lead to a chain of chemical reactions, and will self-heal in the short term. However, if it is stretched out, the system “gets stuck in overdrive” and the effects will be chronic or long-lasting. They define stress as an “automatic physical response to any stimulus that requires you to adjust to change.” This is demonstrated through heart pounds, muscle tenses, and other sensations. Furthermore, the body secretes a series of hormones (see above hormones that cause ‘sympathetic’ effects). Other effects such as childhood losses and trauma cause someone to not easily be able to move on or heal. This can affect the person’s personality throughout life. This sums up all of the relevant studies regarding stress. The articles on this topic simply go into more detail on these issues; however, in terms of conceptual understanding this is the standard. We’ve established two things in this section. That modern neuroscience is not able to grasp the intangible aspects of emotion and behavior, and struggles to find the answer in the tangible body. It is understood that one cannot explain the initiation of the emotion for stress, the way it is activated intangibly. We also learn that serotonin blood level measures (as we’ll see) are not proven to be related to depression. The only fact established is that patients generally have depression-relief in the short term due to the blocking of reuptake of serotonin by neurons.

3.5 Connection of the Heart to Depression: The Intangible to the Tangible. It seems that heart disease and depression are commonly seen together. This includes congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, unstable angina, and general coronary heart disease. For CHF (congestive heart failure), Jiang et al. (2001) found that 35.3% of patients with CHF had minor/ moderate depression, while 13.9% had a major depressive disorder. This was “common in patients hospitalized with CHF”. They also acknowledge that patients with cardiovascular diseases such as “ischemic heart disease, acute myocardial infarction, and stroke” have a high prevalence of major depressive disorder. Glassman et al. (2002) looked into major depressive disorder amongst patients with acute MI (myocardial infraction) or

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unstable angina (both heart problems) and acknowledged that it occurred in 15–23% of patients. A consensus statement (Glozier, 2013) reconfirms the psychosocial risk factors for coronary heart disease. It acknowledges such prevalence and recommends that all patients with heart disease be screened for depression, and further annual screening. There is a common consensus that heart disease and depression are related. Much of the literature regarding this looks at depression being caused by heart disease. In other words, all of the emotional stress one takes in due to the disease causes a person to be depressed. Anxiety and the fear of cardiovascular (or other physical ailment) problems are indistinguishable. Anxiety disorders occur because the body is activating that response when no danger is present. However, anxiety also causes other fears and soon the root cause that triggered anxiety is obscured to the extent that it is non-recognizable. Fear of a heart condition actually causes symptoms that are nearly identical to those of a heart attack. Because medical diagnosis relies on symptom, it becomes nearly impossible to know if the anxiety is caused by a heart condition or if the heart condition caused the anxiety. It is entirely possible that anxiety first got triggered without any physical symptom. Then anxiety creates fears without a trigger and the process spirals down. For instance, chest pains are considered a warning sign of a heart attack. They are also a common anxiety symptom. Also, rapid heartbeat is a symptom of anxiety, and can accompany symptoms such as ‘heartbeat awareness’. For a person with heart disease, there is no way to distinguish these symptoms, nor are they unrelated to each other. Similarly, fainting, breathing difficulty and trouble thinking are common symptoms of an anxiety attack as well as an imminent heart attack. One can in fact argue that the intangible aspects of anxiety are more damaging than the intangible aspects of a physical heart condition. If the intangible aspects are treated properly, the physical conditions may disappear without using any chemical drug. Finally, such comment also applies to other physical ailments, such as cancer. Furthermore, we know that increased serotonin and dopamine neurotransmission is related to heart disease; more specifically, people with coronary artery disease have increased levels of serotonin (Vikenes 1999). Antidepressants have the same effect on dopamine use. Therefore we can say that certain heart disease reduces depression (if it were true that more dopamine and serotonin decrease depression). On the other hand, it has been noted that dopamine used to treat Parkinson’s disease and other dopamine agonists have a negative effect on heart function (Zanettini 2007). Serotonin also has a positive effect on the heart, i.e., increasing blood flow (Saxena 1990); however, one has to keep in mind that it can depend on the

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distribution of 5HT1 and 5HT2 receptors, having a dilation and constriction effect on arteries, respectively (Frishman and Grewall 2000). The same researchers mention that elevated levels of serotonin will damage the heart, as supported by the literature they cite. In relation to antidepressant medicine, trycyclic antidepressants affect the heart due to dangerous inhibiting of K+, Na+ and Ca2+ channels. SSRIs also affect the heart in different ways, causing concern about the drug’s side effects on cardiovascular disease, in the sense that they also have several effects on the heart (Pacher and Kecskemeti 2008). The problem with all of these observations is that there is no clear-cut causation and reaction between serotonin levels, depression and heart-function. As the publication puts it “Antipsychotic drugs with complex pharmacological actions on different receptors (dopamine, serotonin, muscarinic) and moreover with additional inhibitory effects on Na+, Ca2+ channels may exert various antiarrhythmic/proarrhytmic actions and their effects on the QT interval.” The conclusion is that “The major problem that there is no consensus on the degree of QT prolongation which is clinically significant. It is very difficult to interpret the clinical data as case reports are sometimes questionable, inadequate, some of them involve extreme overdose and cannot be directly extrapolated to routine clinical practice.” So far, there is no causation or effect detected or proven. However, we do know as a fact that depression is correlated to heart disease. Note that so far, all of this information (no consensus due to too many factors) fully supports the conclusion we made in the mental illness drug section. So far, we have covered drugs’ effects on heart problems, as well as serotonin and dopamine effects on the heart. It seems that there is little evidence to suggest that mental illness related drugs negatively or positively affect the heart condition (both ways, depending on the type of heart disease). High serotonin blood levels (less depression) apparently cause more heart problems, and the increase in artificial serotonin has a positive and negative effect on the heart. This makes it impossible to come to a logical conclusion. Although SSRIs can treat certain heart disease, they are also known to damage the heart and cause heart problems21 through many ways; however, it is convoluted due to their complex effect on the human body. It is necessary to go further and find the real effects on the heart. We know for a fact that they affect several places in the body including the heart; it is a matter of finding the overall effect of SSRIs on the heart.

21

There are several confirmed side effects of SSRIs that lead to certain heart problems: http://www.anakarder.com/sayilar/47/buyuk/305–309.pdf.

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Fernandez et al. (2007) look into the temporary cardiovascular side effects of several lines of antidepressants, categorized by type. We will not take the report as a standard to determine the effect on the heart, as it only enters the ‘short-term side effects’ realm and does not cover the issue extensively. In regard to SSRIs, in summary they found that there were modest modifications they made to the heart, but also produced more serious effects such as orthostatic hypotension, “vasoconstriction with resultant myocardial ischemia”, and QTc interval prolongation. For fleuoxene, we may have (with overdose, indication that it has potential negative effect even if it’s a little) sinus tachycardia, ventricular trigeminy, and cardiovascular toxicity. Other medications in the section have side effects such as myocardial infarction, stroke, and syncope. In SNRIs we have arythmias, first-degree heart block, palpitations, and others. A quick review of drugs. com as we did earlier reveals several side effects not discussed. Prozac lists generalized and peripheral edema, ventricular fibrillation, and torsades de pointes. This is common in other drugs under the SSRI category as well. There are other studies that propose that SSRIs are safe or not harmful when also taking heart disease medication. A 2013 literature review of 15 years of information regarding benefits and adverse effects of SSRIs finds that for IHD, they may even produce a cardio-protective effect; however, “The clinical data are less clear in patients with heart failure, and the evidence for benefits with SSRIs is weak.” A 2003 (Serebruany et al., 2003) study specifically looked into the issue of SSRI use when the patient has acute coronary syndromes and found that they may even have a positive additional advantage. One article (Taylor et al., 2005) mentioned several papers that suggested that the use of SSRIs was not unsafe, and found the same results with their trial looking into heart-related mortalities with and without the use of antidepressants. There are several issues with their trials and deductions from the results. Firstly, they assume that 26 months, or a few years for follow-up, is enough to determine whether or not the drug has long-term effects. We know that the long-term effects of antidepressants are not good, and cannot be palliative, as we confirmed that they only work as temporary ‘feel good’ tools. Secondly, mortality cannot be used as a standard for judging the quality of a drug. The least one can say (even if one can correctly screen out the mortalities that were ruled to be a reaction to antidepressants) is that you live longer, that is, survive the assigned period of time for a follow-up. This does not qualify the writers of the article to make a comment on even the short-term quality of the drug on human health and quality of life. They would have to consider all of the non-heartrelated problems they create, the overall effect on the health of the person (which we know is bad, in the long term. Having a longer miserable life

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and health with ‘moments of short-term pleasure’ from drugs is worse than living a non-interfered with life that is shorter) has to be incorporated. Through our above analysis, we know that there are much too many factors and intangible elements for anyone, especially a cardiologist with no interest in the subject, to be able to find out and evaluate. Simply put, these type of reports are a small representative of the thousands of reports (we deconstructed as much as possible in Volumes 1 and 2 of this book series; see Islam et al., 2015 and 2016) that look into the short term, specialtyspecific, statistically reliant, based purely on the unrepresentative tangible parts of the human body when looking at the cause and effect of drugs. Now, we will enter the realm of the intangible, and find out how intangible depression affects the physical heart, as physical neurotransmitter levels and drugs did not draw a clear picture. There is a great deal of literature and several studies that show a link between depression and heart disease, but inversely. We found that there is no correlation between the physical heart and depression; however, there is evidence to show that the intangible depression causes the tangible heart to change. There are several reports and trials that see heart disease as a risk for people with depression, meaning that people with depression are at higher risk for heart problems. A consensus paper released in 2013 (Glozier et al., 2013) looks into the psychological factors of heart disease. They found several factors that can correlate stress and depression to heart disease: perceived chronic job strain and shift work, acute emotional stress, conditions of extreme stress such as natural disasters and where large populations gather (population stress), and depression. There are several other studies: High job stress increases chance of getting a blood clot (1997). Coronary artery disease survival rate goes down with people who are clinically depressed, as they are not able to change their heart rate to external stimuli as well (which is an independent risk factor for heart disease). People depressed have a higher change of heart attack (Duke University). Washington University published a report that said that the best predictor of major cardiac events was major depression. People depressed due to their heart disease may spiral down and have their heart affected even more severely due to severe depression. Johns Hopkins University said there is a one in four less chance of getting a heart attack if you have no depression

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than if you do. They said one is just as likely to benefit from an anti-depressant as an anti-cholestrol agent22 because of those findings. There is a clear correlation between having heart disease and having major depression. Now that we’ve established that intangible emotions can cause serious heart problems, one has to compare this to the physiological aspect and check for consistency, and explain how the mechanism of the intangible23 and tangible heart are correlated to each other, if at all. The only problem is that nobody knows the reason for such depression, although there are several theories. Wooley et al. (2008) went over the theories discussed in the literature to find the correlation. The majority of reports mention certain lifestyle indicators such as smoking, lack of exercise, medication non-adherence, underlying cardiac disease severity, lower heart rate variability, antidepressant toxicity, dietary factors, and increased serotonin levels and platelet activity. This paper examined all of the possible factors discussed in the literature and basically did the work for us. In summary, they found that “the association between depressive symptoms and cardiovascular events was largely explained by health behaviors, especially physical inactivity”. This matches our theories advanced in Volume 1 of this book series (see Islam et al., 2015). We predicted that the source of all of the medical problems was the artificial lifestyle. It is not the effect of antidepressants or serotonin levels that caused the heart problems; although they do have an effect, they were found to be much smaller in comparison to the problem of an artificial lifestyle. Here, ‘artificial lifestyle’ refers to a lifestyle that is a deviation from conscious and conscientious participation in society.

3.6 Additional Concerns 3.6.1 Over-Medicalization Just like all privately and publicly marketed goods in the capitalist market, corporations exist, and their sole goal is to increase profit to the highest possible extent. Forget the already (super)inflated price of medication; these companies will make more if possible, and have to do their best to kick out the competing brands. The 2005 literature review report by Lacasse 22

Perhaps they didn’t know or care about the effects of anti-depressants on the heart! The intangible heart here means emotional feelings, guided by the heart, as discussed in Islam et al. (2016). 23

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and Leo compiles the influence of companies on studies, leading them into bias, and exposes the whole idea of having large companies marketing medications that have a serious impact on human health. The former health minister of the UK, Lord Warner, said, “I have some concerns that sometimes we do, as a society, wish to put labels on things which are just part and parcel of the human condition”. He raised specific concerns about over-medicalization of antidepressants. They show several advertisements used by those companies to counter such ideas and promote the positive side of drugs. More specifically, they portray the disorder of depression as resulting from a ‘chemical imbalance’ or even imbalance of serotonin levels in the body. They note several important points. The FDA’s role in the regulation of advertisements is anything but strict. They note that the FDA does not approve advertisements but only regulates them after they come out; this leads to a wide range of misconceptions being related to the public about SSRI medication. One example of the ad campaigns is their claim that SSRIs correct the imbalance of serotonin and have a confirmed ability to potentiate serotonin, although their prescription labels say this to a much softer degree—for example they ‘presume’ that it does so; however, it is marketed as if it’s confirmed. The entire mechanism of the drugs can be misleading. SSRI ads may also claim that serotonin deficiency is the cause of depression; this is sufficient reason to remove an ad under FDA regulations, as it simply is not true. Furthermore, the ads are required to say that the claims are not established and there are limitations to the supporting evidence, if the claims are not based on scientific evidence, which claiming low serotonin levels cause depression is not. An example of a typical ad giving misconceptions is this excerpt from a Paxil ad: “With continued treatment, Paxil can help restore the balance of serotonin…” Regarding their whole operation, Laccase and Leo (2005) mention that the FDA is said to have sent out only 10 warning letters over the period 1997–2005, but never for the examples above (claiming a balance of serotonin levels and that deficiency of serotonin is the cause for depression). This is additionally concerning to the general public because a study found that patients who pretend to show symptoms and ask for a specific drug have a significant chance of being prescribed with it. They show another study, according to which the issue of medication in advertisements has a controlling influence on uneducated viewers. Several ads had such features. Additionally, Lacasse and Leo (2005) have quoted from papers, books or speeches by several well-known academics regarding the issue, all saying that we cannot confirm misconceived notions that antidepressants correct an imbalance, or that serotonin levels (mostly low) have anything to do with depression:

Source Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience Elliot Valenstein, in Blamin the Brain (1998), which reviews ther evidence for thr serotonin hypothesis Science writer Jhon Horgan, in his critical examination of modern neuroscience, The Undiscovered Mind (1999). Psychiatrist Joseph Glenmullen, clinical instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, in Prozac Backlash (2000). Psychiatrist Stephen M. Stahl, in a textbook used to teach medical students about psychiatric medications, Essential Psychopharmacology (2000). Psychiatrists Pedro Delgado and Francisco Moreno, in “Role of Norepinephrine in Depression,” published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry in 2000.

Brown University psychiatrist Peter Kramer, author of Listening to Prozac, which is often credited with popularizing SSRIs, in a clarifying letter to the New York Times in 2002.

Quotation

“Although it is often stated with great confidence that depressed people have a serotonin or norepinephrine deficiency, the evidence actually condradicts these claims”.

“Given the ubiquity of a neurotransmitter such as serotonin and the multiplicity of its functions, it is almost as meaningless to implicate it in depression as it is to implicate blood”.

“A serotonin deficiency for depression has not been found”.

“So far, there is no clear and convincing evidence that monoamine deficiency accounts for depression; that is, there is no “real” monoamine deficit”.

“Some have argued that depression may be due to a deficiency of NE [norepinephrine] or 5-HT [serotonin] because the enhancement of noradrenergic or serotonergic neurotransmission improves the symptoms of depression. However, this is akin to saying that because a rash on one’s arm improves with the use of a steroid cream, the rash must be due to a steroid deficiency”.

“…I wrote that Prozac was no more, and perhaps less, effective in treating major depression that prior medications….I argued that the theories of brain functioning that that led to the development of Prozac must be wrong or incomplete”.

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Stanford psychiatrist David Burns, winner of the A.E. Bennett Award given by the Society for Biological Psychiatry for his research on serotonin metabolism, when asked about the scientific status of the serotonin theory in 2003.

Psychiatrist David Healy, former secretary of the British Association for Psychopharmacology and historian of the SSRIs, in Let Them Eat Prozac (2004). Psychiatrist Kenneth Kendler the coeditor-in-chief of Psychology Medicine, in a 2005 review article.

“I spent the first several years of my career doing full-time research on brain serotonin metabolism, but I never saw any convincing evidence that any psychiatric disorder, including depression, results from a deficiency of brain serotonin. In fact, we cannot measure brain serotonin levels in living human beings so there is no way to test this theory. Some neuroscientists would question whether the theory is even viable, since the brain does not function in this way, as a hydraulic system”.

“Indeed, no abnormality of serotonin in depression has ever been demonstrated”.

“We have hunted for big simple neurochemical explanations for psychiatric disorders and have not found them”.

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3.6.2 Mechanism of Action of SSRIs Regarding the mechanism of action, Andrews et al. (2015) state all of the facts regarding the research findings up to now, which we have gone through. Firstly, as stated before, we do not know the real relationship between depression and serotonin (if any). Based on this, the research can be summarized in the following statement: “We are unaware of any evidence attempting to assess serotonin transmission in humans during starvation depression or sickness behavior. However, several lines of evidence suggest that serotonin transmission is elevated in patients with major depression.” After going through all of the homeostatic functions of serotonin (nearly everywhere in the body, perhaps the most), they argue that serotonin cannot be directly affected or are ‘state dependent’. Because they have so many functions, they cannot be reliant on the emotions, and they are not. In their analysis of SSRI effects in the body, they basically do the science for us, in terms of evaluating all of the effects on the human body, and how it can actually be for the worse (theoretically it has to be). The effects can be summarized as follows: 1. The medication blocks the reuptake of serotonin into the synapse, thereby creating extracellular serotonin. 2. This affects several processes, such as glucose consumption (of blood glucose) inhibition in the brain, affect glycolictic and glutamatergic activity in the brain. 3. The body has to restore the disruption in homeostasis through ‘compensatory responses’, which can take a while. Also, ADMs block serotonin synthesis in the brain, explaining the decrease in blood derotonin over treatment. In the long term of administration, the effects of having decreased serotonin accumulate and total serotonin synthesis declines. Note that all of these happenings are affecting the entire body, from the gastro-intestinal system to the bone production system to the brain. These are later attributed by them to explain the reason for the mechanism of healing. Several reports and evidences propose that the specific counteractions of the body actually reduce the symptoms, such as the decrease in serotonin transmission to counter increased glutamergic energy caused directly by the drug, eventually causing glutamergic activity below usual equilibrium, “producing an actually antidepressant effect”. They go into more detail unnessesary for the purpose of the chapter.

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering 4. In terms of side effects, there are dozens of known physical and ‘intangible’ ones. Importantly, however, they noted that a healthy person taking SSRIs actually potentiates anxiety, and long term inhibits it. There are also opposing reactions to excitability of the motor cortex, and in aggression (low then becomes high). They note that acute ‘treatment’ is most likely caused by the properties of the drugs, while long-term ‘treatment’ side effects are representative of the compensating effects the drugs have.

This all serves as proof of the fact that SSRIs do not target the root cause of depression. Additionally, it also makes sense that SSRIs have dramatic, potentially lethal side effects to discontinuation, by rapidly messing up the body’s homeostasis. It should also be noted that the drug has long-lasting effects on the body; in chronic treatment it changes the whole functioning of the body, in which case it is like the puzzle-piece. Of course the short-term shocks in the beginning and at the end of treatment are bad for you and represent a disruption of equilibrium in the body. After discontinuation, the body cannot heal completely.24 This paper completely, and in detail, refutes the common notion of serotonin being connected to depression, and SSRIs having any real effect at all. What they do not grasp is the idea of ‘antidepressant’ vs. ‘antidepressant effect’, the former being real cure or satisfaction while the latter being a short-term pleasurable effect on the psyche. That’s why this book is so important; it combines hard science with theory and philosophy, which is important in order to understand the full picture, something overspecialized ‘experts’ are unable to do. Hinz et al. acknowledged several discomforting facts on SSRIs. Firstly, the mechanism of action in reuptake inhibitors is unknown, supporting earlier findings. Even in terms of short-term buzz, he stated, “Double-blind, 24 http://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/going-off-antidepressants says that 99% leaves the body in a few days, but don’t get excited. The same source says most withdrawal symptoms will occur after 90% has been drained. This tells us, even according to dogma, that short-term effects occur after the drug is gone. No one has done extensive long-term research, however, “Side effects of antidepressants during long-term use in a naturalistic setting” acknowledges that “A novel finding was that venlafaxine is associated with more profuse sweating and that weight gain appeared more specific in female users. Clinicians should be aware that, during long-term antidepressant use, side effects are common and persistent.” We already discussed long-term effects, but this is important: “Clearly there is a marked long-term effect of maternal adversity and developmental SSRI exposure on post-operative pain in offspring” from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/ article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0057608

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placebo-controlled studies consistently reveal reuptake inhibitor depression efficacy of 7% to 13% greater than placebo”. Also, even “monoamine precursor nutritional support” was found to be much more effective than the reuptake inhibitors. Bottom line, they aren’t even able to deliver what they promise to, at a decent level. As we will see in the next chapter.

3.7 Bias in the Medical Research Another important issue, often overlooked by scientists, is the problem of a corporate bias. We already discussed in quite some detail corporate bias and how the entire capitalist structure adversely affects the livelihood of people. In the case of the pharmaceutical industry, the structure of capitalism motivates companies to increase profits. This includes increasing prices well over R&D cost compensation (Cockburn, 2016). There is a fundamental difference between conventional economic analysis and the analysis offered by Big Pharma. As Cockburn points out, Formal welfare analysis of any policy instrument focuses on its impact on producer and consumer surplus, concepts which are well-defined in economic theory but not always straightforward to measure empirically. In this respect, the pharmaceutical sector presents some unusual challenges for assessing the impact of IPRs. Consumer surplus is particularly difficult to measure in this sector, since in many countries demand is strongly influenced by insurance schemes or government provision of drugs and “learned intermediaries”; i.e. physicians and pharmacists play an important role in consumption decisions. Policy discussion of the impact of IPRs thus revolves around proxies for welfare, rather than direct estimates. On the supply side, these include trade and production statistics and indicators of the pace of technological change – i.e. development of new drugs. On the demand side, these include pricing and product introductions.

Historically, the United States has been perceived by the industry as a very attractive location for pharmaceutical R&D because of its very limited use of price regulation and government purchasing, and strong patent rights. This has been a contentious issue in other countries. For instance, in the late 1990s, EU governments became very concerned (see Gambardella et al., (2000)) that overly aggressive price controls and hard bargaining by state purchasers were driving away investment in pharmaceutical R&D and adversely affecting the competitiveness of EU-based companies (Gambardella et al., 2000). However, this was a wrong-headed move

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because nothing suggested that there was any major shift in R&D spending away from Europe. These episodes, including Canada’s experience with compulsory licensing of pharmaceuticals in the 1970s and 1980s, or more recent examples such as the periodic heated disputes between OECDbased companies and governments of developing countries over pricing of anti-retroviral drugs suggest that R&D location decisions may be quite sensitive to government policies directed at lowering the cost of acquiring pharmaceuticals. Few, however, address the ‘greed component’ of the pharmaceutical industries and practically no one complains about the fact that chemical drugs are not effective and in fact are counter-productive. As some authors point out (e.g., Chien, 2003), a focus on lowering price cannot yield positive results. Instead, the focus should be more on a bottom-up approach of promoting real treatment with companies interested in long-term approaches. There are a few important papers one must discuss to get a complete idea of how companies manipulate statistics. In Volume 1 of this book series (Islam et al., 2015), we have discussed how statistical methods themselves are inherently biased. Here we see the application of that scheme. We hypothesize that this statistical discrimination leads to two main things: preliminary drugs being marketed,25 leading to thousands of human lives being affected. What is the conclusion drawn here? Although these are very bad, the small problems in the drugs (side effects and so on) are not the big picture. The big picture is the need for us to change cognition points from artificial to natural, and find the solutions that fit the correct puzzlepiece. This will completely solve our current culture of disinformation and contempt for conscience (and everything natural). Varner (2008) looked at several trials relating to ophthalmic study (the eye and its diseases) in search of results and their consequential potential funding from corporations. The value of the business of trials from pharmaceutical companies is worth billions of dollars (est. $800 million in 2007) for a single drug. Varner notes that the total expenditure in 2007 was estimated at 62 billion pounds. Between 2002 and 2006, EU funding for pharmaceutical research was estimated at 0.5 billion pounds. Clearly public funding lags behind the private sector, which is funding most of

25 Preliminary means whatever we have now. We’ve established that ‘research’ is not good, and that the fact a puzzle-piece effect exists due to medications indicates that they are far too preliminary for use. Furthermore, we know that the whole line of artificial medication processing is bad. The point of this section is to highlight what makes even the short-term artificial drugs even worse than the best they ever could be.

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the pharmaceutical research. This evidence is mostly used in reviews and theories, and of course in the decision to allow a drug. The purpose of publication bias is clearly to profit from the enormous (billions) in investments in R&D being made. Today, U.S. drug companies are considered to be the biggest investors in R&D with a 12% of the gross invested in R&D. A big share of this spending is carried by the public because of the related tax cuts. So, it’s a joint venture between Big Pharma and the government. For advising clinicians, they have come up with several suggestions based on findings among bias-analyzers. They are recommended to look for the main types of bias amongst the 100 types that exist. This includes selection bias, information bias, and interpretation bias, in the specific context of eye disease related trials. Other examples are insufficient patient numbers, their manipulation, standards of comparison (not ‘apples to pears’ metaphorically), and failure to compare to the ‘gold standard’. By the last point it is meant that the new drug is compared to previous ones’ effects; unexpected findings do regularly occur. This gives us the background on what exactly may be found in terms of bias and what can be expected from reports. Although we will not do our own extensive literature analysis, we will look into other peoples’ to determine how severe these effects may be. Naci et al. (2014) looked into 183 randomized controlled trials of Statine. More specifically, “Open label and double blind randomized controlled trials comparing one statin with another at any dose or with control (placebo, diet, or usual care)”. They evaluated two types of biases, potential over/under estimation due to methodological attributes, and the effect of company sponsorship on the outcomes being made by the studies. In the latter evaluation, 146 (64 placebo controlled—why are they afraid of placebo controlling it?) trials were pharmaceutically sponsored while 37 were by the government. They did not find anything significant causing a difference between the results of the two groups. They however admit that In recent years, pharmaceutical companies have attempted to prevent studies with unfavorable results from being published, and to publish positive studies with positive results more than once in high profile cases. Perpetuating such publication biases, pharmaceutical companies have been shown to selectively report favourable outcomes while deliberately hiding information on others such as harm endpoints. Such practices, which do not seem to be prevalent in the statin literature, may partly explain the previous findings of bias in favour of outcomes of research funded by industry.

Furthermore, their results directly conflict with several other studies, but they simply state that those studies ‘may be attributable to factors that

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cannot be explained by standard tools for assessment of risk of bias’. This need of reconsideration of reports coming out due to sponsorship bias has been an issue for a while, almost synchronized with the plastic culture that invaded modern civilization over a century ago (Varner 2008, Naci et al., 2014, Sismondo 2008). We will examine literature regarding such bias and its implications. There are several studies that statistically show a bias in favor of pharmaceutical-sponsored study bias. Lundh et al. (2012) found such overall effect when examining pharmaceutically sponsored vs. non-industry sponsored reports: “risk ratio (RR): 1.32 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.21 to 1.44), harms results RR: 1.87 (95% CI: 1.54 to 2.27) and conclusions RR: 1.31 (95% CI: 1.20 to 1.44) compared with non-industry sponsored studies”. Bekelman et al. (2003) examined quantitative studies (original ones), 37 studies were included, out of 1664 screened. More specifically: “Aggregating the results of these articles showed a statistically significant association between industry sponsorship and pro-industry conclusions (pooled Mantel-Haenszel odds ratio, 3.60; 95% confidence interval, 2.63– 4.91)”. Another similar study done by Als-Nielsen et al. (2003) albeit with a smaller sample size, found the same, in that a study sponsored by a forprofit organization is more likely to recommend that drug as a preferred treatment, “odds ratio, 5.3; 95% confidence interval, 2.0–14.4”. Lexchin et al. (2003) did a similar study. They included 30 studies from 1966 to 2002 in the topics of “cohort collections of trials, meta-analyses, and economic studies”. Thirty articles were chosen from 3,351 potential titles. They found a correlation of funding source to publication status, lower likelihood of publication, and took a longer time to get published. Sixteen studies looked at the results compared to funding status; 13 of them report a relationship between result and funding source (corporation funded). The other three exceptions were research relating to oral contraceptives, another to thromboembolism (this study looked at results not affiliation), and another odd one. In their discussion they admitted that funding source is widespread (and suggested several studies to support that), and that they did not consider the outcome bias, possible reasons for their findings. This could be attributed to the possible reliance on disclosures (which is not a good idea; Sismondo, 2008). The third-generation oral contraceptive report found that both industry (note that they had to declare it; the study was not an explicit analysis of bias, only a paragraph) and nonindustry both showed high likelihood of risk. Table 3.2 summarizes biases. One has to think, why would such a product be approved if there is greater risk of something than from a second-generation oral contraceptive? Sure enough, there is a large petition (2006: http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/

Sponsored studies more than twice as likely to report favorable outcomes

90% of trials favorable to sponsor’s drug 78% of sponsored trials favorable, 48% of non-sponsored favorable

Detailed case study of two very similar economic evaluations of a vaccine

48 trials reported at meeting

119 trials with and without conflict of interest 85% with COI favorable, 41% without COI favorable. (COI) published in JAMA and NEJM 100% favorable

Systematic review of cost effectiveness literature expressed in QALYs.

45 sponsored trials reported at American College of Rheumatology meeting

42 head-to-head trials of antipsychotics

406 trials reported in major psychiatry journals

100 reports of drug studies in pulmonary/ allergy literature

Bell et al., (2006)

Beutels (2004)

Finucane and Boult (2004)

Friedman and Richter (2004)

Fries and Krishnan (2004)

Heres et al., (2006)

Kelly et al., (2006)

Liss (2005)

98% of sponsored trials favorable, 32% of non-sponsored (Continued)

100% of sponsored trials favorable, 67% of non-sponsored

Sponsored study more favorable on vaccine

Sponsored studies were significantly more likely to report favorable results

44 pharmacoeconomic reports of SSRIs

Baker et al., (2003)

Sponsored trials significantly more likely to recommend treatment, odds ratio (OR) = 5.3

Representative bias result

213 trials included in sample of Cochrane reviews

Description

Als-Nielsen et al., (2003)

Positive studies

Authors

Table 3.2 Bias results for various authors (Modified from Sismondo, 2008).

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Sponsored trials reported significantly greater benefit of drug Sponsored trials significantly more likely to recommend treatment 92% of trials with reported COI present favorable outcome, 70% of non-COI Sponsorship a strong predictor of positive outcomes, OR = 4.54 88% report positive outcome, none report negative outcome

10 trials of clozapine, an antipsychotic

59 trials of antipsychotics

162 placebo-controlled trials with and without COI, reported in major psychiatry journals

179 trials with and without COI, reported in major dermatology journals

124 sponsored trials of three antipsychotics

241 trials on cardiovascular treatments, reported in JAMA, Lancet, and NEJM

Moncrieff (2003)

Montgomery et al., (2004)

Perlis et al., (2005)

Perlis et al., (2005a)

Procyshyn et al., (2004)

Ridker and Torres (2006)

No association of sponsorship and outcome No statistically significant association of sponsorship and outcome.

143 head-to-head trials of analgesics as test and comparator

135 trials reported in major GI journals

Barden et al., (2006)

Brown et al., (2004)

Negative studies

Pharmaceutical company estimates of cost effectiveness ratios consistently favorable or neutral, and more favorable than independent estimates

54 comparisons of cost effectiveness appraisals submitted to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence

Miners et al., (2005)

67% of sponsored trials favorable, 49% of non-sponsored favorable

Representative bias result

Description

Authors

Table 3.2 Cont.

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dockets/07p0044/07p-0044-sup0001-02-Copy-of-Petition-vol5.pdf) citing the research such as the one found in this study to ban them. When approved this must have not been new information, so it wouldn’t matter what the results were—it was already in the market. It may have also been biased in the opposite way, making the previous-generation drug look bad to get the new one approved (like the fourth-generation ones!)—just a suggestion. They found a higher possibility of industry-funded trials to be recommended (“favoring the product”). “[C]onfirm[ing] and extend[ing] those reported by Bekelman et al” the first study we looked at above. They suggest several reasons for this, namely funding drugs they believe are better, low-quality industry research which exaggerate positive effects, inappropriate comparators (Varner, 2008, advised the same). Sismondo (2008) did a systemic review looking into the highly related issue of industry funding and the type of results in the study. Regarding the pharma sponsorship—result bias, he cites (some of what we discussed) several reports and their findings in a Table 3.3. It is clear that there is overwhelming evidence in favor of a bias and barely any evidence that discredits ‘negative studies’. One negative study we discussed even admitted to the fact of significant evidence to the contrary, which was not directly countered; they also admitted to the prevalence of selection bias, which was not considered in their study. This study also notes the issue of bioethics being broken by some of the authors, namely that there are several authors who did not disclose (90% of them in a study) their funding due to it being indirect (not necessarily direct funding for the project, but other economic ties, for example being employed by them or receiving indirect funds). Regarding negative studies in the table, he commented that one of the studies compared data is as opposed to affiliation in the papers (as our discussed one did) and cannot represent their conclusions. This is not an unfair statement, as one can make several conclusions and arguments from the same data (Islam et al., 2015a). Sismondo (2008) doesn’t stop there and passionately argues that the response to such findings by the medical community is simply not enough, and had some tough words to say to the pharmaceutical companies, our favorite being “Pharmaceutical company funding systematically biases the clinical trials literature in favor of new drugs, and this fact casts a shadow over much medical knowledge and practice”. However, he doesn’t go far enough in recognizing that chemical medications are inherently unsustainable. He appears to hold out some hope for the ‘artificial’. Just like any other author on the subject, in the world (nearly), the authors must believe in the science of artificial, whether results conform to it or not. Even with the passionate arguments of this type of scholars, they still believe in the myth that

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the artificial can restore previous flaws of the artificial, which is consistent with HSSA degradation and its variants. Another important issue to discuss is the prevalence of selection or outcome bias. Although it have been established that published trials funded by Big Pharma biased and favored the drug being marketed, another underground sinister scheme is the issue of which pharmaceutical companysponsored reports are published and submitted to the FDA for review. Dwan et al. (2013) looked into this issue of cohort studies assessing publication and outcome reporting bias. Out of thousands of references they were narrowed down to 20, using their inclusion criteria: must be complete studies, inception cohorts and others. In their analysis of outcome reporting bias, they found studies favoring the idea (the studies assessed the bias) that there is a strong correlation between publishing likeliness and a significant, positive outcome. Kirkham (2010) and colleagues did a similar assessment, analyzing a cohort of systemic reviews to see the impact of outcome reporting bias specifically. This paper investigated the role of exclusion of certain outcomes on the overall conclusion of review papers. Researchers who conducted the trials were contacted and the reason sought for the non-reporting of data. A sensitivity analysis was undertaken to assess the impact of outcome reporting bias on reviews that included a single meta-analysis of the review primary outcome. It was discovered that some 55% (157/283) of reviews didn’t include full data for the primary outcome of interest from all eligible trials. In terms of quantity, the median amount of review outcome data missing for any reason was 10%, whereas 50% or more of the potential data were missing in 70 (25%) reviews. Some 6% (155 of the 2,486 assessable trials) of the researchers had measured and analyzed the review primary outcome but did not report or only partially reported the results. For these 6% reviews, the presence of outcome reporting bias was shown to have a sensitivity of 88% (95% CI 65% to 100%) and specificity of 80% (95% CI 69% to 90%) on the basis of responses from 62 trial lists. A third of Cochrane reviews (96/283 (34%)) contained at least one trial with high suspicion of outcome reporting bias for the review primary outcome. The authors stated that contact with trial lists should be encouraged. However, the authors made no comment about the motive of data elimination or non-reporting. It is very likely that the motive would unravel systematic bias based on desired conclusions sought by a researcher. Another report by Guyyatt and colleagues (2011) looking at bias, specifically outcome bias, has found interesting results. They go into a lot of detail about several types of bias, primarily being a literature review of recent findings. The following are prevalent ways/techniques one may use to alter results:

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Table 3.3 Various tactics for disinformation. Name

Definition

Citation

Methodological quality

Low-quality trials. Some purFrom him: support low ported the idea that phama quality Jørgensen et al. trials have lower quality 2008; Montgomery et al. scores, while others did not 2004. find that. An explanation for this could be that the calculation method (scale for trial quality) does not incorporate the below types of bias.

Inappropriate choice of dose, dosing intervals and comparators

Using unequal doses to competitors, high doses to seem more effective, and low doses to show less side effects. Observed in antipsychotics and antidepressants, and other types.

His citations: Johansen and Gotzsche 1999 for 13 trials relating to antifungal fluconazole versus amphotericin B ; Safer 2002 for antipsychotics and antidepressants.

Selective publication

Publishing favorable results while leaving unfavorable ones. Found by him in SSRIs and anti-inflammatories.

Melander et al., 2003 for SSRI. Gøtzsche (1989) anti-inflammatories, Huston and Moher (1996) for risperidone antipsychotic. Whittington et al. (2004) said that with exception of Prozac, risks outweigh the benefits: even for dogma people it is bad without bias!

Reinterpretation Showing data to be favorTurner et al. (2008) for of data able even if the numbers the first part, the last submitted to disagree. It was found that sentence from Ninan regulatory submitted documents did et al. (2008). Rising et agencies not publish one positive al. (2008) found 20/43 report (and published 37) negative trials were not and 11 negative/questionpublished. Five (with staable results were “published tistical significant in the in a way that conveyed a negative) of the remainpositive outcome” (Turner). ing 23 were changed in Other are portrayed as the published literature, ‘failed studies’ instead of 4 of them “favored the saying the drug is wrong. drug in question”. (Continued)

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Table 3.3 Cont. Name

Definition

Citation

Resultconclusion disparity

Forming the conclusion to 86% of trials for a drug make the results look better. proposed it is favorable. Only 12 of the 19 in support (out of a total of 22) showed such results in the data: Rochon et al. (1994). Yank et al. (2007) found conclusions, but not results were in favor of the drug. Industryfunded trials played down adverse effects of inhaled corticosteroids while others raised caution w/ same results: Nieto et al.

Conflict of inter- Being funded by a pharmaceu- Sismondo 2008a and Katz et al. 2003. Out of all est affecting tical company creates a ‘gift’ BMJ RCTs from 1997– conclusions relationship and increases 2001, industry-suplikelihood of them feeling indebted. ported ones have similar results and methodological quality (etc.) as others, but largely favored the drug’s use. This was the same for the NEJM and JAMA. Friedman and Richter (2004). Same for dermatology (Perlis et al. 2005a). B shows that with psychiatric drugs 8.4X greater chance of reporting positive outcome. Oncology: Jagsi et al. 2009

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Table 3.3 Cont. Name

Definition

Citation

Ghostwriting

People recruited to write articles on the new drug in a favorable way. There are several incidents, the evidence pointing it being “widespread and systematic”.

Systematic=Ross et al. (2008), Dunbar and Tallman 2009; FughBerman 2005 show incidents of ghostwriting. Healy and Cattel (2003) showed legal proceeding documents with ghost-writing, articles with authors ‘to be determined’.

Seeding trials

Trials with the purpose of get- Psaty and Rennie 2006 ting doctors to start to use show a quote of a their drug “with the aim of pharmaceutical execuestablishing the drug as a tive about seeding trials. Hill et al. (2010) shows a regular part of the doctor’s publicized example, for prescribing”. the drug Vioxx.

Selective outcome reporting: recent evidence suggests it is widespread, looking at several studies: Matieu et al. (2009) looked at hundreds of trials relating to cardiology, rheumatology, and gastroenterology in 10 journals and found prevalence of outcome reporting bias. Another trial did the same as the above, asking researchers why their data was not reported and the results found that non-significant trials accounted for a large part of the no-data research reports (concluding that it is biased and all information should be made available). Another found “Statistically significant outcomes had a higher odds of being fully reported compared with insignificant outcomes for both efficacy (pooled odds ratio, 2.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4–4.0) and harm (pooled odds ratio, 4.7; 95% Cl, 1.8–12.0) data” (evidence for empirical evidence for selective reporting of outcomes in randomized trials: see Chan et al., 2004). Loss of follow-up: it is a potential (and existent) problem in bias, not following up. Finding the reason for why there is loss of follow-up cannot be measured.

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering There are several other factors that affect observational studies’ results and a dangerous prevalence of bias that needs to be addressed.

Lexchin (2012) looked into the overall structure of the pharmaceutical industry, how bias has a large effect on people and the country. He first demonstrates the economic need for marketed drugs. One example of how drug ‘blockbusters’ (ones that make over a billion) affect the economy is a “estrogen/progestin combination” drug which was later learned to increase the chance of cardiovascular disease. It declined by 66% in sales in the United States. Most clinical research is funded by the industry; it causes observable clear bias. A report he cited found that the positive rating in a study for a drug was four times more likely to be positive than a non-pharmaceutical industry trial. He attempts to explain how exactly biases such as this occur, what factors can be manipulated, etc. This explains the reason why several industry-funded trial findings, often perceived to be objective and crystal clear, still have contradictory findings to non-corporate-sponsored studies. The following is a table of different types of manipulative tactics, the definitions, and references cited by Lexchin. He finally quotes the famous economist Alan Maynard, explaining the whole mechanism for corporate bias: Economic theory predicts that firms will invest in corruption of the evidence base wherever its benefits exceed its costs. If detection is costly for regulators, corruption of the evidence base can be expected to be extensive. Investment in biasing the evidence base, both clinical and economic, in pharmaceuticals is likely to be detailed and comprehensive, covering all aspects of the appraisal process. Such investment is likely to be extensive as the scientific and policy discourses are technical and esoteric, making detection difficult and expensive.

This is especially a concern in the mental illness drug market. Despite already low placebo-controlled trials (Hinz et al., 2012), publication bias and selection bias are big issues. In 2005 Marco Procopio published a summarizing paper of these concerns. We learn several things from it. Firstly, there is increasing skepticism about the effectiveness of antidepressants, due to no observable decrease. This is even more a concern because the pharmaceutical industry’s influence controls the literature on antidepressants. Despite decades since their widespread use and discovery, they did not decrease suicide or depression in the general population. Secondly, there is a lack of research regarding antidepressants. They tend to refer to

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older research, itself with several methodological problems. Other biases include a major one, the ‘multiple outcomes bias,’ which will be discussed. Procopio first looks at scientific methodology used by neuroscientists that consists of hypothesizing and theory building, and exit into the ‘real world’. In essence, we try to describe nature in the abstract using our observations and try to develop a theory: An explanation of our cognitive ability vs. what is really happening: “It is impossible to test directly in the natural world a theory or even an inference, because they are expressed at conceptual level and therefore do not have any direct correspondence in the real world which is not made of ideas, but of objects and processes”. There are two things we need to keep in mind with this; first, that we assume a hypothesis works over an infinite number of cases so we “can never be demonstrated to be correct directly through induction”. We can only know it at least has some value when it is ‘non-falsifiable’; attempts to falsify it have failed. These are what drug trials are based on, as he explains that we are unable to falsify observations such as that of a placebo-controlled trial (with correct methodology). This would be the model research technique for him, that we need to first have an operational hypothesis in order to test the drug trial. In other words, the only way one can prove the theory is by creating a testable hypothesis, in this case being a drug trial. The explanation (one of them) for the bias of pharmaceutical companies is the multiple outcome bias. When someone (in this case a common industry-sponsored drug trial) goes into a trial without a testable hypothesis, all of the operational criteria (data) will be collected during the trial, all of the information. From this, hundreds of potential “pseudo-hypotheses” are possible. Because there is no priori (but a posteriori), some will show the drug to be better while the others will show it to be worse. Because we are not in search of anything, a ‘casual’ positive or negative result does not have meaning, although when put into context it could be falsifying an important hypothesis. Explanation: If it is established a p = 0.05 as the threshold for significance, as it happens in most studies, one result in 20 will come out as statistically significant by chance. Therefore, in research projects in which there are hundreds of permutations of results, therefore pseudo-hypotheses a posteriori, it is always possible to prove whatever it is wanted. The researcher will be allowed to pick and choose for publication the results that confirm his theory and ignore the others. Now turning to other issues of bias in antidepressants, Turner and colleagues (2008) examined FDA reviews of 12 antidepressant drugs involving over 12,000 patients for matching publications (through searching),

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and statistic findings in the literature were compared to the FDA dataset. Seventy-four FDA-registered studies were incorporated (found), 31% accounting for a fourth of the 12K sample size were not published. Thirty-seven studies by the FDA were published and had positive reviews; one non-positive review was not published. Twnety-two negative studies viewed by the FDA were not published, or published in a way showing a positive outcome (11). According to the literature then, 94% of trials were positive, while according to the FDA analysis only 51% were positive. Another study by Turner et al. looked at publication bias by examining FDA approved drug packages for eight psychotics; 24 reports were found. Out of the four unpublished (17%), “three failed to show that the study drug had a statistical advantage over placebo, and one showed the study drug was statistically inferior to the active comparator”. Five published were negative but “showed some evidence of outcome reporting bias”. The calculation of a publication bias “the effect size for unpublished trials (0.23, 95% confidence interval 0.07 to 0.39) was less than half that for the published trials (0.47, 95% confidence interval 0.40 to 0.54), a difference that was significant”. This is evidence of prevalent publication bias; however, being less prevalent in antipsychotics than in antidepressants, explained by the fact that they demonstrate better in face of a placebo than antidepressants. Every-Palmer and Howick (2014) note, as Procopio does, that if evidencebased medicine was really a ‘big deal’, then we would simply see an overall reduction in disease, this being the actual purpose of medicine. They looked at several different drugs’ biases and potential implications. As a backdrop, they note the billions of dollars made annually in psychic and antidepressant drugs. It was also noted that upon marketing of bipolar drugs, there was a sharp increase in diagnosis, especially in children. Children and adolescents on bipolar treatment rose 40-fold from 1994 to 2000. For depression, it was noted that SSRIs were ‘aggressively marketed as safer, effective, and well tolerated alternatives’, a typical symptom of HSSA syndrome. People over the age of 12 are taking antidepressants at a ratio of 1:10. Interestingly, atypical drugs (antipsychotics) were found to be no better than their predecessors, according to large-scale independent studies. For depression there is a similar notion. They display the table of Smith (2005), showing several tactics often employed by pharmaceutical-sponsored trials: Conduct a trial of your drug against a treatment known to be inferior. Trial your drugs against too low a dose of a competitor drug. Conduct a trial of your drug against too high a dose of a competitor drug (making your drug seem less toxic).

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Conduct trials that are too small to show differences from competitor drugs. Use multiple end points in the trial and select for publication those that give favourable results. Do multicentre trials and select for publication results from centres that are favourable. Conduct subgroup analyses and select for publication those that are favourable. Present results that are most likely to impress – for example, reduction in relative rather than absolute risk. A final study examines the detail of drug effectiveness in relation to drug approval from the FDA. From Spielmans and Kirsch (2014) we learn some facts: Only a few phase III (final phase trials, on humans) studies are required (larger-scale placebo-controlled trials) for approval; even two of them with statistical significance in comparison to a placebo is grounds for approval. Trials are considered failed trials when drugs compare worse than a placebo: “Fluoxetine is a known antidepressant, so it if failed to outperform a placebo, then something must have been wrong with the trial itself—perhaps rating scales were done incorrectly or the sample was not appropriate. Essentially, the adequacy of the study is judged by its outcome rather than its methods”. This is problematic, as we saw with the trials for Vilozodone. Furthermore, new drugs performing worse than established (old) drugs may be interpreted as positive; iloperidone was an example, approved because it outperformed a placebo even though not the established competitors. This tells you something about how the FDA is largely at fault for approving bad-quality drugs. Ignoring of negative effects totally occurs under FDA regulations: “AstraZeneca, submitted three studies—and that only one had a positive result. Nonetheless, the drug was approved, as the FDA informed AstraZeneca that only one positive study was needed given that a shorter-acting version of the drug had already received FDA approval”. A similar issue happened to bruproprion and a schizophrenia treatment drug in 1997.

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering Only the short-term matters. Given a generally held understanding of the definition and length of long term, the FDA approves drugs if only the short-term antidepressant effects are positive. Studies also show that withdrawal effects and ‘relapses’ may be confused: “’researchers must be aware that additional research is required to clarify whether antidepressants are actually preventing future depressive episodes or simply preventing antidepressant withdrawal phenomena’”. A big issue is reporting bias. Large-scale research used to approve a drug could be the very reason to “cast doubt on its utility”. Because researchers and clinicians are more likely to look at information published in the literature and not from FDA reviews (nor are things written from FDA reviews), they go through their own evidence to show the prevalence of selection bias; several papers and statistics support a need to get writers to pay attention to the full picture.

Logically, this explains why antidepressants are at large promoted by the literature in terms of positive effects. For instance, it was noted by them that (p. 752 of above article) positive effects published could simply be republished over and over again, instead of all being original articles. They lead to a distorted assessment of drug efficacy. Another very worrying concern is the issue of clinical trials not reporting adverse effects. Some reports even show that 11/14 trials did not report adverse effects considered important to report (shown in 5+% of the population and other criteria). Several reports raise this concern especially. One example is the non-reporting of sexual dysfunction related side effects; such reports of these side effects were published after the drug was marketed. Another manipulated effect was manipulating suicide rates; specifically, authors make suicide rates common in the ‘washout phase’ to look like it was during the randomized trial (in which it could be placebo or the drug that the patient is taking). This, falsely “inflat[ed] the rates of suicidal behavior for participants taking the placebo”. Several studies did not report suicide attempts in published versions of the studies, neither was one patient who was on treatment nor three others who discontinued due to ‘suicidal ideation’. Another issue is a search site simply not listing reports within the required period. Not surprisingly

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there has been concern raised about the lack of non-drugsupporting information. There are several biases prevalent in the medical community, even when it comes to the dogmatic society we live in, in which it is already fashionable to criticize alternative medicines and glorify all the progress in “research” we have made. This bias creates a large disparity over the efficacy and safety of any given pharmaceutical drug. As long as society is functioning in this way (HSSA), this will continue and have no end. The solution is to reverse the entire HSSA ideology amongst the medical community and target the pharmaceutical industries that serve as the powerhouse. It is very important to keep in mind the issue of bias and statistical manipulation when discussing the efficacy and safety of drugs.

3.8 3.8.1

Schizophrenia Theory Behind Schizophrenia

This common psychotic-related disease will be the focus of our discussion. One can go into bipolar disorder, dementia, and several other psychotic disorders. However, schizophrenia is somewhat similar to the others, and is the largest user of antipsychotic drugs.26 For this reason it is only necessary to go over this drug as an example to understand this specific brain mechanism, and use the same process to examine other related disorders. The Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuer founded the notion of schizophrenia (coined the term) in 1911 (Moskowitz and Heim, 2011). The source of the disease is not proposed to be serotonin as it is in depression, but is proposed to be related to dopamine. Similar to the serotonin hypothesis, the common theory is the “dopamine hypothesis”, which attributes symptoms of schizophrenia to over/extremely active dopaminergic “signal transduction”. Again, this is a simple extrapolation made from the fact that antipsychotics generally decrease such activity (found in neuroimaging studies).

26

Popular antipsychotics such as Clozapine (Clozaril), Risperidal (Risperidone), and (Aripiprazole) are used primarily for schizophrenia: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/ drugsatfda_docs/label/2010/019758s062lbl.pdf page 1, http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/ drugsatfda_docs/label/2009/020272s056,020588s044,021346s033,021444s03lbl.pdf page 1, http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2014/021436s038,021713s030,02 1729s022,021866s023lbl.pdf page 1 respectively show schizophrenia is the first treatment recommendation.

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It is interesting to note that patients of schizophrenia tend to have high nicotine self-medication which increases dopamine transmission. Also, because drugs such as amphetamines and cocaine increase dopamine levels and cause schizophrenia-like effects, they could be tied to each other. McGuire et al. (2008) looks at PET, SPET, and MRS and fMRI imaging to examine how dopamine and glutamate play a role in people with schizophrenia. Typical imaging studies find increased presynaptic dopamine synthesis and storage is associated with schizophrenia, citing several studies. Furthermore, “therapeutic efficacy is associated with an occupancy of striatal D2 receptors of around 70%”. However, newer research has brought in the issue of other receptors playing a role, as lower D2 occupancy was found with Clozapine. Some have proposed that they antagonized 5-HT2A receptors; however, the results were “disappointing”. Some inconsistent findings are found when measuring D1 receptor density and for antipsychotic drug preference to bind to certain regions of the brain. They also acknowledged an important point: there are anatomical differences in brains of people with schizophrenia (before and during progression of schizophrenia). Abi-dargham (2004) looked at new evidence to discuss its place in the dopamine hypothesis, which are (schizophrenia symptoms) “thought to arise from a dopaminergic imbalance in the brain”. SPECT and PET scan evidence shows there is hypo-stimulation of D1 receptors and hyper-stimulation of D2 receptors. Of course this leads to the conclusion that we are on the right track in terms of knowing schizophrenia better (through the dopamine hypothesis). Lodge and Grace (2011) in a literature review look at how dopamine deregulation plays a role in schizophrenia, and provide a general analysis of our current understanding of the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Current evidence shows that the largest area of dopamine release is in the part of the brain associated with associative information processing, very much in support of the dopamine hypothesis. On the other hand, it seems the upper parts of the brain regulate the dopamine system, because major mesolimbic dopamine system disorder has not been observed. Not to mention, antipsychotics were noted not to “show a high level of efficacy – especially across symptom classes – and exhibit significant side effects”. They believe that instead, ‘altered hippocampal function’ may be the result of schizophrenia. Because hippocampus function and physical structure is altered, and further consistent anatomical differences have been found, it seems to be pointing that way. Additionally there are several studies going into the specific alterations of the hippocampus in people with schizophrenia. Therefore, one can hypothesize that the dopamine deregulation

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is associated with hippocampal function. Regarding antipsychotics, they acknowledge the complexity of such drugs, having several effects, not just blocking dopamine receptors. Note that dopamine neuron activity increases in acute administration while it decreases chronically (days later—maybe it is like serotonin, a counterbalance effect cannot be ruled out. It is attributed to depolarization block [“a substantially depolarized membrane potential results in the inability of the dopamine neurons to generate action potentials”] of membranes which reverses acute effects of the antipsychotics). The bottom line they come down to is that although antipsychotics are effective at symptom treatment, “they are not particularly effective at treating negative signs and cognitive symptoms”. Mainly due to the fact that medications target the receptors and not the controller of the receptors, this creates the ‘depolarization block’ and the hippocampus and makes it less effective. It is clearly said that instead of targeting the main problem, the drugs are not treating the disease but “produce an abnormal state that offsets the downstream dopamine dysfunction associated with positive symptom”. What they do not recognize is that the study of medicine is symptom management, and even if the hippocampus could be directly affected, there is no doubt it would cause another large array of problems. Another study by Lau and colleagues (Lau et al., 2013) also reviews the older and current findings in regard to the dopamine hypothesis and the mechanism of action of antipsychotic drugs. He admits the fact that the etiology of the disorder is unknown (“not fully understood”) but has to do with abnormal neurotransmitter regulation and structural abnormalities. Newer drugs antagonize serotonin and dopamine receptors, while older ones mainly target dopamine D2 receptors. The way by which drugs affect D2 receptors (agonistic or antagonistic) depends on the “signaling environment of the D2 receptor”. In the 1950s and 1960s the dopamine hypothesis was based on extrapolation from the observation that antipsychotic drugs have an antagonizing effect. The first generation (older) antidepressants, however, did “little, if anything, to alleviate the negative symptoms and cognitive deficits in schizophrenic patients and have many side-effects” while clozapine, a more effective drug, does not have such an antagonizing effect on the brain. The authors tell us that “hyperdopaminergia” cannot fully explain schizophrenia. The current dopamine hypothesis says that dopamine deregulation (hyperdominergia) in the corpus striatum results in psychosis. This is shown to have changed in several neural systems with many different receptors (not the same as the dopamine abnormalities) which are believed to be caused genetic and environmental conditions “when experienced in a

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neurodevelopmental susceptible period”.27 Antipsychotics are also thought not to affect associations but can affect cognition (unlearning and “dampened aberrant salience”). Psychosis brings novelty and salience to associations and objects. This tells us that antipsychotics simply “detach” from symptoms (by for instance directly affecting motivational drive/salience) instead of treating them. Figure 3.2 shows how various receptors and mental ailments connect with each other. They discuss the prospect of newer evidence next. It has been proposed that increased dopamine agonists induce psychosis in people. Importantly, neuroimaging studies show increased dopamine release through amphetimines in patients with schizophrenia has worsened symptoms. These are ‘indirect’ evidence in support of the dopamine hypothesis. However, others have theorized that the act of neurological suppression can be the cause for reduced symptom intensity, instead of “revers[ing] the underlying pathophysiology of schizophrenia”. This is aided by the fact that several neurotransmitters are believed to have a connection to induced psychotic symptoms; unfortunately, they are not fully understood. Of course there are (Weeks)

(Years)

23

32

40

2

12

18

20+

Old age

Microbiota stability

Prenatal

Infancy

Childhood

Adolesence

Adulthood + old age

Neuronal complexity through the lifespan

Synaptic density

Stages of brain development

Age of onset of mental disorders ADHD

Neuronal migration

Autism

Axonal and dendritic growth

Schizophrenia Anxiety disorders

Programmed cell death

Mood disorders

Synaptogenesis

Impulse-control disorders Myelination Process modeling/synaptic refinement TRENDS in molecular medicine

Figure 3.2 schematic of the various stages of brain development and mental ailments. 27

For when schizophrenia is developed see this article to understand neurodevelopmental succesptiblity: http://www.marinusvanijzendoorn.nl/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/ Ellisetal2011.pdf

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neuroimaging studies looking into the issue of D2 activity (presynaptic availability and synaptic release). They explained these several studies did not pay attention to proper controls, such as stress, arousal, smoking, etc., which have an effect on the dopamine system. In conclusion, we simply do not know all of the factors and mechanisms of schizophrenia, and we could be on the right or wrong track, wrong in the sense that dopamine is one of several factors of the disease and that dopamine is not the core reason. We also know that antipsychotics do not target the core of the problem with schizophrenia. This is the current standing of the dopamine hypothesis today. In the meantime, several other theories have emerged. Coyle (2006) represents another major theory explaining the mechanics of schizophrenia: high glutamate levels. Right off the bat the issue of the dopamine hypothesis is discussed, from a result-based point of view; they mention that D2 receptor antagonizers have low efficacy and are poorly tolerated (with the exception of clozapine, which is addressed later). Another major setback of atypical and typical (second- and first-generation, respectively) antipsychotics is that they cause cognitive impairments and other negative symptoms in most patients under treatment. There is a lot of evidence including neuroimaging and pharmacologic studies that propose schizophrenia is a multireceptor-affecting disorder. They look at the mounting evidence of the AMPA, kainate and NMDA receptor effects on schizophrenia, which mediate post-synaptic effects of glutamate. It seems that hypofunction of the NMDA receptor is connected to schizophrenia through the following ways: Ketamine and phencyclidine (PCP) are observed to cause ‘a psychotic syndrome…difficult to distinguish from schizophrenia’. This was proposed to be associated with NMDA blockade; additionally, PCP abuses are more likely to develop psychopathology. Throughout the years ketamine was found to have positive effects on reducing schizophrenia symptoms. Imaging studies: anatomically there are several consistent deformities found in those with schizophrenia; they suggest reduction of NAA in the thalamus, prefrontal cortex and temporal lobe. Other studies showed “NAA is particularly enriched in the projecting glutamatergic neurons” in those brain regions. Also, in those regions there is little neurological damage, proposing, “compromised glutamatergic function”. There is other evidence and further studies proposing there is a link. For this reason they propose a new line of drugs to activate NMDAR not

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directly (it could cause neurotoxicity) but indirectly by affecting other factors. These are known to have positive and negative results. Regarding clozapine, there is some evidence proposing that there is increased NMDAR activation in the prefrontal cortex of a rat. Table 3.4 lists the side effects of various antipsychotic drugs. Kendler and Schaffner (2011) look at the development of the dopamine hypothesis and its role in the mechanics of schizophrenia from a scientific and philosophical view. After reviewing older theories and how they slowly developed, they enter the modern understanding of the dopamine hypothesis. We learn the following (about current evidence) regarding this: Overall evaluation shows that the DHS (dopamine hypothesis) has ‘performed poorly’ due to the fact that not all components of it are empirically validated, and also because several studies looked had several different hypotheses. Different versions of the DHS theories were used, because several other factors were the target of other empirical studies used to prove DHS (such as specific regions of body activity and some ‘global’). They show a quote from a study to summarize their findings throughout the history: Table 3.4 Antipsychotic drugs and mental/neurological side effects. Name and source Clozapine: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/ drugsatfda_docs/label/2010/019758s062lbl. pdf

Resperidone: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/ drugsatfda_docs/label/2009/020272s056, 020588s044,021346s033,021444s03lbl.pdf

Aripiprazole http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/ drugsatfda_docs/label/2014/021436s038, 021713s030,021729s022,021866s023lbl.pdf

Mental side effects Dystonia, anxiety (1%) and depression (1%), delusions and paranoia (drug B>drug C>drug A etc. are routinely touted with impunity. Typical and atypical reports: Volavka et al. (2002) reported that effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs in patients with chronic schizophrenia is “modest” in the short term. They studied such medications as Clozapine, Olanzapine, Risperidone, and Haloperidol in the treatment of patients with chronic schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. Considering the devastating long-term impact, this ‘modest’ result in the short-term brings into question as to why these drugs are marketed at all. This sums up the debate regarding the mechanism of action for antipsychotics. We observe two important things: (1) we do not know how to

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deliver an antipsychotic effect; and (2) the current drugs work too far into the short term and have severe side effects, questioning the reason for the marketing of the drug. One has to ask, why would somebody even test a drug before knowing about it, let alone be able to get it approved? We, of course, point to the presence of the economic hierarchy, the FDA being at the bottom.33

33

The FDA is used as a tool of corporations to ensure major disasters do not occur; however, they also make the public feel safe about the drugs approved, and they eliminate any competing smaller companies from being able to sell their drugs.

The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering: Applications for Mental Disorder Treatments, Volume 3. M. R. Islam, Jaan S. Islam and G.M. Zatzman. © 2017 Scrivener Publishing LLC. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

4 Psychological Grounding

4.1 Introduction Aristotle wrote, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Nothing has been more damaging than new science’s ‘discovery’ that all opinions, either from perceptions or from a peculiar first premise, are facts as in subjective reality. New science conflates method with conclusions and makes a big mess out of both. Science, for those people who still don’t understand, is nothing more than a method of inquiry based on careful observation or logical fundamental premise. It is the method, not the observations or the premises, that is scientific. What has happened with new science is only a particular set of fundamental premises that have been allowed as a starting point, not unlike what used to be the norm during the dogma days of the Roman Catholic Church. It turns out that the most logical premises that were rooted in ancient civilizations have been marginalized and replaced with premises that are more illogical than the Trinity.

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In Chapter 2, we investigated the natural traits of humans and how such traits can be best utilized to promote hope instead of fear and love instead of hatred. The meaning of human life is a research question that is as old as humanity itself. We have seen in Chapter 2 that post-Roman Catholic Church Europe has answered this fundamental research questions with duplicity and without rigour. These speculations in Europe avoided any reference to the Qur’an, the book that claims itself to be a divine revelation, thereby being the external and universal standard (Islam et al., 2013). In the absence of this universal standard—unlike what happened after the Qur’an’s acceptance gained momentum in Islamic political philosophy— there have been a large number of proposed answers to these questions, all of which contain an Orientalist/Eurocentric or apologist perspective (Hart, 2000). To sum up this crisis, let’s review the following from Karl Marx, who wrote: To know what is useful for a dog, one must study dog-nature. This nature itself is not to be deduced from the principle of utility. Applying this to man, he who would criticize all human acts, movements, relations, etc., by the principle of utility, must first deal with human nature in general, and then with human nature as modified in each historical epoch. — Karx Marx, Das Kapital, Vol. I (Schefold 2005, 118).

In essence, for last millennium, Europe has managed to develop a guideline for humanity, without paying attention to the real meaning of humanity. This blocked the continuous progress during the Islamic golden era that saw an unprecedented growth in all branches of knowledge (Islam et al., 2013).

4.2 Culture of Fear There was a time in the history of mankind that was blighted by the fear of hell or being pushed off the edge of the ‘flat earth’. Today, those fears have been transmogrified into the fear of losing money and health. Ours is the post-9/11 era — a period in which perpetual wars, financial collapse, Amber Alerts, drone attacks, cyber attacks, and most recently even the presidential election have all combined — or been combined — to take our society to an unprecedented level of fear. Three out of four Americans used to say they felt more fearful today then they did 20 years ago (Glassner, 1999). This culture of fear has been taken to a fever pitch since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. After the 2016 presidential election, this culture of fear has

Psychological Grounding 181

Picture 4.1 Culture of fear in contemporary civilization.

become the official dogma of the current civilization, headed by the United States (Frank, 2017). The fear is all-pervasive (Picture 4.1). Corey (2004) defined this culture of fear as a “political tool, an instrument of elite rule or insurgent advance, created and sustained by political leaders or activists who stand to gain something from it, either because fear helps them pursue a specific political goal, or because it reflects or lends support to their moral and political beliefs — or both.” Jordan (2008) refers to current times as an “Age of Anxiety,” because fear plays such a major role in the consciousness of people across the globe. It has gone beyond the realm of ‘conspiracy theory’; the present society builds on thought control, and fear always trumps any other short-term thought-control measures. The culture of fear is ubiquitous, ranging from social issues (Furedi, 2007) to fear of the urban environment (Ellin, 2001); from fear of crime (Garland, 2001) to fear of law (Guzelian, 2004); from fear of media (Ginsberg & Lyche, 2008) to fear of US president Donald Trump (Rocheleau, 2016). It has been recognized for a while that the fear that we see as ubiquitous is designed as a means of controlling people’s lives, in which the media works as an amplifier (Ginsberg & Lyche, 2008). Politicians that control the public purse are prone to exploiting the culture

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of fear for their own ends, typically by means of media fear and politics (Robin, 2004), and fear as a ‘culture’ (Furedi, 2002; Glassner, 1999). Tudor (2003) even raised the question of whether fear constitutes a ‘distinctive cultural form’ in today’s society. Fear is often examined in relation to specific issues; it is rarely considered as a sociological problem in its own right. Hankiss (2001) argues that the role of fear is ‘much neglected in the social sciences’. He says that fear has received ‘serious attention in philosophy, theology and psychiatry, less in anthropology and social psychology, and least of all in sociology’. This under-theorization of fear can be seen in the ever-expanding literature on risk. Though sometimes used as a synonym for risk, fear is treated as an afterthought in today’s risk literature; the focus tends to remain on risk theory rather than on an interrogation of fear itself. Indeed, in sociological debate fear seems to have become the invisible companion to debates about risk. Similarly, Cohen (2002) argues that ‘reflections on risk are now absorbed into a wider culture of insecurity, victimization and fear’ that has raised havoc in the psyche of the general public. A study of New Labour’s economic policies argues that they are couched in the ‘language of change, fear and risk’ (Raco, 2002). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is currently the most common and effective type of treatment for people suffering from anxiety disorders. However, the effects are often short-lived and the fear returns in many patients. Similar to what we have seen in Chapter 3 regarding the short-term impact of chemical drugs, cognitive therapies have also become superficial with little long-term benefit. New science has addressed this problem with a potentially far more damaging procedure, that is, the use of chemical drugs to erase memories of a patient, so fear doesn’t return. Sevenster et al., (2013) report that when participants were given propranolol, a beta blocker, while retrieving a specific fear memory, the acquired fear response was shown to be totally erased a day or month later. The researchers repeatedly found that the fear did not come back, despite the use of techniques specifically aimed to make it return. This indicates that the fear memory was either fully eradicated, or could no longer be accessed. One crucial finding was that while participants could still remember the association with the fear, that particular memory no longer triggered the former fear response. Clearly, this approach is wrong-headed. In today’s free-floating fear, sustained by a culture that is anxious about change and uncertainty, and which continually anticipates the worst possible outcome, chemical

Psychological Grounding 183 intervention to wipe out memory of fear, including perceived fear, is the epitome of toxic shock that has become synonymous with the plastic culture (Khan and Islam, 2016). This ‘culture of fear’, as I and others have called it, tends to see human experience and endeavor as a potential risk to our safety. Consequently, every conceivable experience has been transformed into a risk to be managed (Garland, 2003). This risk management comes with a price and the spiralling down mode begins, in which those who suffer from mental ailments are the worst victims. Sociologists, emboldened with new science and its stance on quantum theories, call this culture of fear a matter of perception (Glassner, 1999) and blame the news media for Americans’ fear. Others blame politicians and their lust for money. Yet others blame the illuminati and the “new world order” fanatics. The general public is in a state of hopelessness as the media takes on a role of the Pied Piper, ushering in all the ‘lost souls’ to an inevitable land of hopelessness and frustration. It is a fact that the media bombards us with sensationalistic stories that are designed to increase ratings, a concept called the media-effects theory. Television news programs, for instance, survive on scares. Stories of crime, drugs, and disaster make up most of the newscasts because that is what gets people to tune in and watch. It’s like horror stories; the more unrealistic they are the more people are drawn to them. Reality is created out of thin air and facts are shrouded in so much spin and sensationalism that the mainstream media begins to look like the National Enquirer. Media works with the politicians in sync so the two entities feed each other with so much disinformation that the truth is buried in the thickest of obscurities. In essence, they exaggerate statistics and stories to the American people so that their own personal causes and beliefs can benefit. For example, if a politician knows he can get more votes and win reelection if he gets funding for a program benefiting teen moms, he or she will inflate the problem of teenage pregnancy and instil fear in Americans over what would happen if such a program were refused funding. For instance, perhaps teenage pregnancy rates would skyrocket or teen moms on welfare would lose their income and their children would starve. Anyone hinting at the presence of a new Trinity comprising Government, Church, and Corporate personifications of the Money god that are determined to continue feeding on people’s misfortunes regardless of the policy in place at the moment, is dismissed as a crackpot conspiracy theorist. This level of dysfunction is the only visible signature of a secret real unelected part of government that runs the elected government and especially its foreign policy and global

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aims.1 Meanwhile, the general public acceptance of scientists as the only true prophets of the truth has served to fortify such a view. Accompanying this thinking is the notion that we can make this entire culture of fear disappear once we sufficiently empower new science and its peddlers. There is no point in speaking of more effective and efficient therapies unless we invoke a paradigm shift. If the current therapies are wrongheaded, making them more effective would only mean fast-tracking failure, just like the chemical intervention approach that attempts to delete the memory of a person. Yet, the solution to this problem is extremely simple – so simple that it is the simplest thing for a human, whose unique feature, as we have seen in Chapter 2, is the ability to think logically. The following section discusses how one can replace fear with hope and do that with fundamental changes in outlook.

4.3

Have We Been Programed to Be Illogical?

Plato said, “Strange times are these in which we live when old and young are taught falsehoods. And the one man that dares to tell the truth is called at once a lunatic and fool.” Few question the notion that these ‘strange times’ are now when it comes to politics. However, fewer understand the science behind these ‘strange times’, and even fewer appreciate how such

1

The occasional emergence of an honest individual in the Presidency makes little or no difference to the functioning of these sources of U.S. governance hidden away among Washington’s 17 intelligence agencies and the country’s dozens of privately endowed think-tanks. Thus for example President Eisenhower on leaving office in 1961 famously warned his fellow citizens about the danger posed to the republic and its freedoms by a “Congressional [emphasis added] -military-industrial complex” that sucks up all the resources of the US economy unto itself. However, the actual speech that Eisenhower was permitted to deliver [‘permitted’ only as a courtesy, because he was now out of office and therefore as powerless as any ordinary citizen] cut out the word “Congressional” that appears in Eisenhower’s hand-written draft of the speech and was only discovered accidentally by historians 15 years after the speech. This crucial omission completely altered Eisenhower’s intended message that there was a conscious underlying policy in place — the congressional part of the trinity. Instead, down to this very day, everyone discusses the misleading impression that their former President was upset over a machine called the ‘military-industrial complex’ running amok in need of the attention of honest human elements. Eisenhower’s point was not just the danger posed by the physical scale of the apparatus by itself, but the need for the people to act to eliminate the human corruption feeding and sustaining the apparatus.

Psychological Grounding 185 times have pervaded all aspects of our civilization, and practically no one sees this as a problem in the science and technology development sector. Many dislike the current system but few see the big picture and the direction that our civilization is moving and none can tell us how to fix the system. In Volumes 1 and 2 of this book series, we have shown the hopelessness of new science in addressing root causes of medical conditions. According to former U.S. president George W. Bush, the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C. and many others, the maintenance of beliefs by any individual that counter officially accepted views is a personality disorder of such toxicity as to mandate deployment of an entire system for attacking the psyche of such individuals until they “crack” or are destroyed. As a 2006 article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine disclosed, this was indeed the object of an elaborate and carefully planned program of government-funded research. As part of this research, an entire regime of randomized psychological “torture-testing” of people was launched and justified as an effort to catch lies and liars in general on the basis of refining and overcoming the defects of polygraph technology in particular. To grasp the decadence implicit in this proposition, consider the underlying logic of this matter launched during the Bush Administration and continuing to date: Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists (MAJOR PREMISE) Those who are with us never lie (MINOR PREMISE); therefore All liars must be terrorists and all terrorists must be liars (CONCLUSION) This Bush model is contextually important for this chapter as with President Trump the entire Bush clan, including GW Bush has unleashed a series of unflattering commentary on Donald Trump, making GW Bush particularly praiseworthy by the liberal media.2 We argue that the infamous Bush model has been operation throughout US presidency. In our recent work, we analyzed the modus operandi used by all US presidents and concluded that the systematic disinformation by the government has become progressively more toxic, albeit less transparent (Islam, 2017a; 2017b). 2

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/02/28/george-wbush-paints-dark-picture-of-america-under-trump-i-dont-like-the-racism/?utm_ term=.62a0a373e36b

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Islam et al., (2013) argued that the modern day United States government is involved deeply and extensively, covering all sectors of entities, namely the financial establishment, the political establishment, and the media establishment — sometimes as director, other times as financier and guarantor. It is the same model that is followed in all sectors of professional services, including pharmaceutical engineering. As a matter of personal behavior, if we can start questioning the premises that we have implicitly accepted as true, we would be able to go a long way toward being a true human, whose most important trait is to be able to cognize logically.

4.3.1 Science as the Mastermind of Absurd Logic Even though the word ‘physics’ has the root meaning of ‘science of nature’, in the modern age, the word ‘physics’ applies to the science of the artificial. For instance, all recent Nobel prizes in physics deal with theories that are applicable to engineering processes. The underlying assumption of applying engineering theories to describe natural processes is that nature behaves the same way as a human-engineered process. Based on this fundamentally flawed premise, physicists have freely delved into describing natural objects, ranging from tiny quarks to large quasars. Even though after Newton, few scientists attempted to explain creation (or emergence) of the universe from nothing, recent work of Stephen Hawking, the holder of the chair once occupied by Newton, has opened a new line of discussion in which old questions that apparently eluded modern scientists have resurfaced. Once again, age-old questions such as the ones listed below are being asked (Hawking, 2010). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

What is the purpose of our (humans) existence? What is the purpose of the existence of the universe? Is time a creation, if so, when was it created? When did the universe begin? How was the universe created? How can we understand nature?

While asking questions is necessary, questions themselves are not sufficient for assuring the usefulness, let alone the accuracy, of the answers. Unfortunately, post-Newton Europe has lost the scientific cognition process that would allow these questions to be addressed properly instead of restating the false premises (Khan and Islam, 2016). Islam et al., (2013)

Psychological Grounding 187 Table 4.1 List of aphenomenal questions asked by Hawking (2010). Questions of Hawking (2010)

Embedded contradictory premises

How can we understand the world in which we find ourselves?

We find ourselves; it disconnects from any notion that creation may not be a random act that is self created.

Did the universe need a creator?

The need of creation can create a ‘creator’; the notion of creation is dependent on ‘need’.

Why is there something rather than nothing?

We have access to the ‘intention’ of the creator.

Why do we exist?

Our existence has a purpose.

Why this particular set of laws and not some other?

We have access to the knowledge of something that doesn’t exist.

What is the origin of the laws of nature?

The laws of nature have been originated by an entity.

Is there only one set of possible laws?

There is no comprehensive and unique set of laws of nature.

What is reality?

Reality is subjective and non-unique.

Is there a miracle?

Exceptions and magic are not miracles.

What is the speed of light in Maxwell’s Maxwell’s equation is universal; elecequations measured relative to? tromagnetic field is comprised of rigid balls.

identified the necessary and sufficient conditions for such cognition. They are: 1. Clearly identified purpose; 2. Clearly identified first premise; 3. Ability to discard a first premise and restart the process if contradictions arise; 4. Existence of real questions; 5. Conclusions are supported by guiding but open questions that precede the conclusion. Real questions are crucial and the lack of them would only support the premise that the cognition is based on. A real question is a question that does not have a premise or preconceived bias attached to it. In table 4.1, we

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list a few questions posed by Hawking (2010) and demonstrate how these questions have premises attached to them, the exclusion of which would expose the question as aphenomenal.3 These are all “why are you lying?” type questions. The idea is to change these questions into real questions in order to find answers. Table 4.2 includes fundamental premises of ancient and medieval scholars and contrasts them with new science scholars. Overall, physics as a discipline has traveled from a flat earth theory to a flat universe theory; from the Trinity to infinite god (desire being the god); from God, Son, and Holy Ghost to Money, Sex, and Control; from Church, Monarch, and Feudal lords to Corporation, Church, and Government. Constantly, absurdities have been introduced as ‘science’. All these have the same driver as once controlled the Roman Catholic Church, that is, Money. This is true in describing the cosmos as well as describing the smallest entities that we know. So, if this is the case in hard science, what do we have in social science? Here, we present some of the arguments made in Volume 1 of this book series. In social science, take the work of Averröes, who is designated as the ‘father of secular philosophy in Europe’. These are his quotes; review them and ask the question, Did any of the ‘secular’ scientists follow his logic? In his book titled: The Book of the Decisive Treatise, Determining the Connection Between the Law and Wisdom & Epistle Dedicatory (Averröes, 2001), Averröes wrote: “. . . [T]he Law makes it obligatory to reflect upon existing things by means of the intellect, and to consider them; and consideration is nothing more than inferring and drawing out the unknown from the known . . .” “You ought to know that what is intended by the Law is only to teach true science and true practice. True science is cognizance of God and of all the existing things as they are, especially the venerable ones among them; and cognizance of happiness in the hereafter and of misery in the hereafter. True practice is to follow the actions that promote happiness and to avoid the actions that promote misery; and cognizance of these actions is what is called ‘practical science.’” “. . . [T]he link between the physician and the health of bodies is [the same as] the link between the Lawgiver and the health of souls . . .” This health is what is called ‘piety.’”

3 This is a term we introduced to characterize a state that has a non-existent or illogical major and/or minor premise attached to it (Zatzman and Islam, 2007).

Thomas Aquinas

Aristotle

Middle eastern prophets (Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad)

Ancient Chinese philosophers

All knowledge comes from the Bible

Authority has access to knowledge (Continued)

There is an intelligent person

Everything is governed by intention of the creator.

Time is a property of matter

Any exception is possible, if deemed convenient

A human (mortal) cannot be god (immortal)

Absolute speed relative to that ‘substance’ is infinity.

Universe ruled by unique set of laws; purpose of creation is to have these laws executed; Humans ultimately accountable for their obedience to that unique set of laws; Humans responsible for humanization of the environment; Humans judged by their intentions*; Humans are representative of the Creator*; Earthly life is a test*; Eternal life is the ultimate reality

Conclusion

God, Son of God, Holy Spirit, all can exist in one

Everything is either A or not A.

We see matter because something emerges from our eyes for us to be able to see.

A ‘substance’ that filled all the universe

All matter originates from the Creator and to the creator all matter returns.

Ancient Greek philosophers

Ancient Indian philosophers

Premise

Name of the scientist

Table 4.2 Various theories and fundamental premises behind them (conclusions are not necessarily that of the scientist that posited the premise).

Psychological Grounding 189

Newton

Ibn Haitham

Accountability is based on intention that has no bearing on universal order Light source affects the quality of light

Humans have unique purpose and are judged based on their intention

Source leaves a signature on whatever emerges from it

First law of motion Second law of motion Newton’s wave theory

There is a state of uniform velocity

There is an external force

Light travels in waveform

God interferes with universal order

First law of motion

There is a steady state

A good source emits good light and vice versa

Universal order is unique and absolute

Thoughts are internal

Every creation is internal and connected to each other

No creation can have constant speed

No creation can have a speed of infinity

Everything, including time, matter, and thought, originates from and is controlled by the Creator

Everything about the creator is unique (Only Creator can be infinity and external to the universe).

Every person has access to knowledge

All true knowledge comes from the Qur’an A good first premise produces correct cognition and vice versa

Averröes

Conclusion

Premise

Name of the scientist

Table 4.2 Cont.

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Feynman

Einstein

Time is a perception of individuals

Observation affects the history

Past can be affected by the present

Reality is subjective

Reality is a chaotic process

(Continued)

Creation from nothing is a continuous process

Humans control time

Energy comprised of solid spherical balls

Every matter has numerous historical paths

Light is uniform and static Energy is disconnected from mass

Light has constant velocity

The time function is deterministic and exact

Degree of chaos increasing

God doesn’t play dice

The universe is evolving toward ‘heat death’

Flying is an absurd concept

Ether (all pervasive ‘substance’, see Premise 2) exists

Speed of light relative to this ‘substance’ is variable

Luminiferous, all pervasive ‘substance’ exists (see Premise 2)

Lord Kelvin

Photons are uniform and independent of the light source

All energy forms comprised of solid, spherical, rigid balls

Maxwell

Atomism is true

All matter comprised of solid spherical, rigid balls

Dalton

Psychological Grounding 191

Creation of everything from nothing through Big Bang of an infinite mass and zero volume

Creation of everything from nothing through Big Bang of an infinite mass and zero volume

Creation of everything from nothing (amorphous state) through crystallization (Big Chill)

Creation of everything from nothing through Big Bang with further expansion of brain-like fractals

Stephen Hawking

Saul Perimutter and Brian Schmidt (2011 Nobel Laureates)

James Quach

Dmitri Krioukov

*Derived from the Qur’an and book of Hadith

Premise

Name of the scientist

Table 4.2 Cont.

Universe is a super-intelligent design

The universe is expanding with accelerating rate of expansion

The universe is expanding with slowing rate of expansion

Conclusion

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Psychological Grounding 193 “. . . [I]njuries from a friend are graver than injuries from an enemy – I mean that wisdom is the companion of the Law and its milk sister. So injuries from those linked to it are the gravest injuries – apart from the enmity, hatred, and quarreling they bring about between both of them. These two are companions by nature and lovers by essence and instinct.” “. . . [E]xistence is the cause and reason of our knowledge, while eternal knowledge is the cause and reason of existence.” British historian Arnold J. Toynbee called the Muqaddimah “a philosophy of history which is undoubtedly the greatest work of its kind that has ever yet been created by any mind in any time or place.” The British philosopher Robert Flint wrote the following on Ibn Khaldun: “...as a theorist of history he had no equal in any age or country until Vico appeared, more than three hundred years later. Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine were not his peers, and all others were unworthy of being even mentioned along with him”. The British philosopher-anthropologist Ernest Gellner considered Ibn Khaldun’s definition of government, “an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself ”, the best in the history of political theory. Arthur Laffer, whom the Laffer curve is named after, noted that, among others, some of Ibn Khaldun’s ideas precede his own. In essence, Averröes promoted long-term over short-term, intangible over tangible, and natural over artificial. This notion wasn’t Averröes’. It was actually inspired by the Qur’an and prophet Muhammad whose statements were preserved in the form of authenticated Books of Hadith. In modern history, the Qur’an is the oldest book preserved in its original form (over 1,400 years) and the Books of Hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad) are the second-oldest preserved books (nearly 1,200 years). Anyone familiar with the Qur’anic approach knows that Qur’an establishes the longterm approach, along with a focus on intangibles as the primary modus operandi for success in this life as well as hereafter. There are numerous Qur’anic verses to this effect but it would suffice to read Chapter 2, verses 1 through 5 that define the criteria for success by taking the long-term approach. In addition, it is also important to recall, all Greek philosophers from ancient time whose work was translated by Islamic scholars/polymaths (e.g., Averröes, Ibn Haitham, Avicenna) were also familiar with such approach of long-term and intangibles. For instance, Wikipedia lists the following principle of division of the entire universe between Actus Purus (absolutely perfect, denoted in the Qur’an as Creator) and the others (denoted in the Qur’an as Creation that can only be perfect in terms of allperfect creational ability of the Creator).

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering In the metaphysical order, the highest determinations of Being are Actuality (entelecheia - Greek: ντελέχεια) and Potentiality (dynamis - Greek: δύναμις). The former is perfection, realization, fullness of Being; the latter imperfection, incompleteness, perfectibility. The former is the determining, the latter the determinable principle. Actuality and potentiality are above all the Categories. They are found in all beings, with the exception of the Supreme Cause, in whom there is no imperfection, and, therefore, no potentiality. God is all actuality, Actus Purus.

This follows the principle of division of the entire universe between Actus Purus (absolutely perfect, denoted in the Qur’an as Creator) and the others (denoted in the Qur’an as Creation that can only be perfect in terms of all-perfect creational ability of the Creator). Parmenides of Elea (early 5th century BCE) was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Magna Graecia. He can be called the first European philosopher who differentiated between correct and incorrect ways of cognition. The single known work of Parmenides is a poem, “On Nature,” which has survived only in fragmentary form. In this poem, Parmenides describes two views of reality. In “the way of truth” , he explains how reality (coined as “what-is”) is one, change is impossible, and existence is timeless, uniform, necessary, and unchanging. This notion is known to be the attributes of the Creator in the orient as well as in Islamic post-Qur’an era. Consider Chapter 112 of Qur’an that says: “He is Allah , [who is] One, Allah, the Absolute Constant (immutable, immovable, unchanging,…). He neither begets nor is born, nor is there anything like Him.” The other way that Parmenides’s poetry is known to describe is the “the way of opinion,” the way that one uses one’s sensory faculties to conceive what is false and deceitful. This bifurcation of cognition is also typical of oriental thinking and encapsulated in Qur’anic verses such as, “And have shown him the two ways?” (90:11). The chapter continues and describes one path involving the long-term approach of selflessness and the other the myopic approach of desire and self-interest in the short term. This bifurcating pathways are repeated many times in the Qur’an and form the basis for heaven and hell in the hereafter. Zeno of Elea (490-430 B.C.), a disciple of Parmenides, is credited with having introduced the dialectic technique of increasing knowledge of the truth. This technique is known around the world through practically all religions, the most documented one being the Islamic holy book, Qur’an (Islam et al., 2013). This questioning is called Manteq in Arabic and was introduced to the West in 1967 in the form of ‘fuzzy logic’. However, Manteq was a science that was well known throughout Islamic era, and top

Psychological Grounding 195 scholars, judges, scientists were required to be proficient in Manteq (Islam et al., 2013). Similar to Parmenides, Zeno gave little value to the tangible and held the traits of the creator as the only truth. It is commonly understood that Zeno did introduce the concept of paradox of space, time, motion and change, allegedly calling them absurd. However, these are also the fundamental features of all natural creation (Khan and Islam, 2007). Even artificial objects are subject to these traits (Khan and Islam, 2012). It seems reasonable that Parmenides or at least his interpreters have conflated creation with creator. If a distinction between the nature of creation (we know a lot about it) and creator (we know nothing about it) is made, no paradox appears. This particular aspect of philosophy appears repeatedly in European cognition, starting from Zeno, then Plato and all the way to modern scientists. To Zeno’s credit, however, he is not the author of the paradox and it is quite probable that such a notion was invented by the post-Roman Catholic Church era that had a vested interest in nurturing paradoxical thoughts. If the ‘way of truth’, as promoted by Parmenides is coupled with the dialectic for which Zeno is credited, there would be no question anyone would be able to discover the truth that seems to have eluded all modern scientists, even though that technique was thoroughly used by Islamic scientists and scholars for over 1,000 years (7th to 17th century). Even Plato and Socrates held similar views about the logic of the separation of Creator and Creation. Famously known as Plato’s Euthyphro dilemma, it involves the question: Is an act right because God says it’s so, or does God say it’s so because it’s right? Rather than answering this question with a logical answer, European Christianity resorted to dogma, prompting philosophers of the modern age to challenge Christianity at its dogmatic root, without realizing that there was profound change planted during the dogma era and logic was replaced with illogical assertions, turning the entire cognition process upside down. For instance, Bertrand Russell argued in his book: Why I Am Not a Christianwith the following (Russell, 1952): If you are quite sure there is a difference between right and wrong, you are then in this situation: Is that difference due to God’s fiat or is it not? If it is due to God’s fiat, then for God Himself there is no difference between right and wrong, and it is no longer a significant statement to say that God is good. If you are going to say, as theologians do, that God is good, you must then say that right and wrong have some meaning which is independent of God’s fiat, because God’s fiats are good and not good independently of the mere fact that he made them. If you are going to say that, you will then have to say that it is not only

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering through God that right and wrong came into being, but that they are in their essence logically anterior to God.

If one examines historical facts, one can gather that all Greek savants and philosophers as well as oriental scholars from the pre-Islamic renaissance are very similar in promoting a long-term approach that gives priority to intangibles over tangibles. Here we will list a few with their most notable features as stated in Wikipedia. Euclid (435 BC-365 BC): Euclid himself wrote six dialogues — the Lamprias, the Aeschines, the Phoenix, the Crito, the Alcibiades, and the Amatory dialogue — but none survive. The main extant source on his views is the brief summary by Diogenes Laërtius. Euclid’s philosophy was a synthesis of Eleatic and Socratic ideas. Socrates claimed that the greatest knowledge was understanding the good. The Eleatics claimed the greatest knowledge is the one universal Being of the world. Mixing these two ideas, Euclid claimed that good is the knowledge of this being. Therefore this good is the only thing that exists and has many names but is really just one thing. He identified the Eleatic idea of “The One” with the Socratic “Form of the Good,” which he called “Reason,” “God,” “Mind,” “Wisdom,” etc.

Compare the above statement with the Qura’nic assertion that “God” (Allah) has 99 traits that are stated explicitly, some being “The Absolute Good” (Al-Quddus), “The absolute Knower” (Al-Aleem), “the Absolute Wisdom” (Al-Hakeem), “the Absolute Visionary” (Al-Basīr), and “the Absolutely Powerful” (Al-Qawi), “The One” (Al-Ahad). The same Euclid of Alexandria (300 BC) is credited to have said to the ruler of Egypt, “there is no royal rod to Geometry’ (in response to a demand for faster solution to mathematical model). “The laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God.” What European philosophers/ scientists have done is to mathematize these “thoughts of God” through linearization and called it ‘laws of nature’, then called it Euclidean geometry. This has all changed. As early as Newton, for instance, who said, “God is an exact clock”, then proceeded to define time. How does he know so much about God that he can ascribe godly accuracy to his calculations? A more modern genius, Albert Einstein, said: “I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own--a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty.” What is the first premise? God created humans whose purposes are the same as God’s. Then, humans are frail, therefore, God must be frail.

Psychological Grounding 197 How does Einstein know this? What if it’s not true? After all, it’s the same Einstein that said, “Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” He is actually making the pretentious claim of knowing God’s intention. This has become the symbol of European cognition. Confucius (551BC-479 BC): Confucianism discusses elements of the afterlife and views concerning Heaven, but it is relatively unconcerned with some spiritual matters often considered essential to religious thought, such as the nature of souls… Confucius presents himself as a “transmitter who invented nothing”. He puts the greatest emphasis on the importance of study, and it is the Chinese character for study ( ) that opens the text. Far from trying to build a systematic or formalist theory, he wanted his disciples to master and internalize the old classics, so that their deep thought and thorough study would allow them to relate the moral problems of the present to past political events (as recorded in the Annals) or the past expressions of commoners’ feelings and noblemen’s reflections (as in the poems of the Book of Odes). In the matter of ethics, one of the deepest teachings of Confucius may have been the superiority of personal exemplification over explicit rules of behavior. His moral teachings emphasized self-cultivation, emulation of moral exemplars, and the attainment of skilled judgment rather than knowledge of rules.

Compare the above with Hadith that says “seeking knowledge is obligatory for each male and female believer” and later confirms the follow-up of knowledge in practice as well as in making knowledge known to be essential to the best of one’s ability. Also, note how the word ‘science’ is the second most used word in the Qur’an. Top that with the final sermon captured in the following Hadith: “An Arab is no better than a non-Arab, and a nonArab is no better than an Arab; a red man is no better than a black man and a black man is no better than a red man – except if it is in terms of piety.” Damascius (458 AD-538 AD): His chief treatise is entitled Difficulties and Solutions of First Principles. It examines the nature and attributes of God and the human soul. This examination is, in two respects, in striking contrast to that of certain other Neoplatonist writers. It is conspicuously free from Oriental mysticism, and it contains no polemic against Christianity, to the doctrines of which, in fact, there is no allusion. Hence the charge of impiety which Photius brings against him. In this

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering treatise Damascius inquires into the first principle of all things, which he finds to be an unfathomable and unspeakable divine depth, being all in one, but undivided. His main result is that God is infinite, and as such, incomprehensible; that his attributes of goodness, knowledge and power are credited to him only by inference from their effects; that this inference is logically valid and sufficient for human thought. He insists throughout on the unity and the indivisibility of God. This work is, moreover, of great importance for the history of philosophy, because of the great number of accounts which it contains concerning former philosophers.

Even Augustine (A.D. 354-430) , who notoriously believed in the flat earth theory as well as ‘original sin’ and ‘fall’ is known to have said, God is timeless and is creator of time, and universe; God holds all knowledge and has no beginning or end; God is perfection, eternal, infinity, incomprehensible, simplicity, and unique; God is “the inexhaustible light” that enlightens all and “physical light” is derivative; God created “everything out of nothing”) at the moment chosen by God; God created everything at its ‘perfect’ time; the universe was created simultaneously in “logical framework” and not in “six calendar days” because creavit omni simul (“he created all things at once”); Recognized that ‘original sin’ and ‘fall’ are difficult to explain.

Compare that with some of the 99 traits of God mentioned in the Qur’an, such as, “The Absolute Light” (Al-noor), “The creator who creates everything out of nothing” (Al-Khaleq). Or, compare that with the Hadith Qudsi (saying of Allah but not part of the Qur’an) that says: “Allah said: The son of Adam curses Absolute Time (dahr) but I am Time, for in my Hand are the night and day” (Sahih Muslim 2246). Descendents of the same Europeans, however, would not hold similar views. The former U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln (at the time still a backwoods Illinois politician and lawyer but married to Mary Todd, daughter of a wealthy and politically highly connected family of slaveowners), is known to have said in1858, “I, as much as any other man, stand in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race... I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and the black races.” Table 4.3 lists philosophical thoughts of various epochs. This table summarizes major philosophical thought of the ancient and medieval era. This table shows consistency in many respects, with the exception of the Roman Catholic Church.

Budhha/Ancient Chinese philosophers

Abraham (2000 BC)

Parmenides of Elea (early 5th century BCE)

Zeno of Elea (490-430 B.C.),

Socrates (469-399 BC) Questioning to eliminate contradiction and unravel the truth; the greatest knowledge is understanding the good.

Leucippus (5th BC)

Ancient Chinese

Ancient Mesopotamia

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Nothing is continuous and everything (earth, fire, water, and air) is constituted of fundamental spatial entities that cannot be divided any further; “Void” is empty (Caoσ, chaos in Greek) (Continued)

Dialectic reasoning to unravel the truth; God is absolute knowledge.

Truth is absolute; two paths exist, “path of truth”, “path of opinion”, questioning will unravel the truth.

Qur’anic recount (e.g. 6:76-78): Allah is the only creator, only truly constant, only truth, and intangible. Everything else is fleeting and tangible.

God is the source, everything else is His manifestation (avatar) and is in perfect harmony; peace is in harmony with nature, made out of fire, water, earth, and air. Everything in nature is in motion and transits through dual properties, hot and cold, summer and winter, day and night, male, female, etc.

God is the truth and she unravels herself with time, karma (infinite cycle) is chetna (inspiration); God is the “Great Zero/void” (Maha Sunya) and is the holder of the universe (mahidhara)

Mahabharat/Geeta

Ancient Indian

Philosophy

Historical figure/ document

Epoch

Table 4.3 Major philosophical thoughts throughout history.

Psychological Grounding 199

Democritus (460-370 BC)

Heraclitus (540 BC)

Plato (429-347 BC)*

Aristotle (384-322 BC)*

Euclid (435 BC-365 BC):

Euclid of Alexandria (300 BC):

Augustine (A.D. 354-430)

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Egypt

Roman Catholic Church

Historical figure/ document

Ancient Greek

Epoch

Table 4.3 Cont.

God is timeless and is creator of time, and universe; God holds all knowledge and has no beginning or end; God is perfection, eternal, infinity, incomprehensible, simplicity, and unique; God is “the inexhaustible light” that enlightens all and “physical light” is derivative; God created “everything out of nothing”) at the moment chosen by God; God created everything at its ‘perfect’ time; the universe was created simultaneously in “logical framework” and not in “six calendar days” because creavit omni simul (“he created all things at once”); Recognized that ‘original sin’ and ‘fall’ are difficult to explain; Trinity and flat earth theory.

The laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God.

Goodness is the knowledge of God.

Exclusion of the middle; Atoms are fundamental spatial unit; hot, moist, cold, and dry are the fundamental properties (steady state model); speed of light is infinity; human eyes see because ‘something is emitted from their eyes’; God is infinity; time is infinity.

Reality is intangible, everything in flux is unreal (God is the only reality)

Everything (creation) is in flux (transient); Universal order is independent of time.

Same as Leucippus, named fundamental unit as atom (atomaσ, uncuttable); all atoms are the same, uniform, symmetric; the feel and taste of a substance is a function of atomoσ of the substance on the atomoσ of our sense organs

Philosophy

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Damascius (458 AD-538 AD) Introduced: Major premise: There is no god (ilah, in Arabic means someone worthy of being obsessed with) but Allah; Minor premise: Muhammad is the last of many messengers of Allah. Left behind two documents: Qur’an: that remains intact for last 1,400+ years in its original form and content Hadith (his sayings, actions, and actions of others that he didn’t criticize): Books of Hadith remain intact for last 1,200 years. Qur’an presents God as the only independent entity whose 99 traits are mentioned; rejects Trinity and places Jesus as one of a number of ‘great messengers’, Gabriel as an angel (messenger between God and prophets), and states the purpose of humans as the viceroy (khalifah on earth) and are created inherently good, opposite to the notion of ‘original sin’. Most famous Hadith states intention (niyah) to be the source of all actions and accountability and ask followers to optimize dynamic intention (qsd), in line with niyah and niyah in line with his role as a khalifah (viceroy). Cure to ignorance is to question.

Nature is of unfathomable and unspeakable divine depth, being all in one, but undivided; God is infinite; he is absolutely good, knowledgeable, and powerful.

*Islamic scholars (Arab and non-Arab) were principally responsible for bringing back these philosophical thoughts from the ancient Greek archive through translation into Arabic after the 10th century.

Arabian Medieval Muhammad period (570-632 AD)

Roman Catholic Church

Psychological Grounding 201

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These thoughts are not aberrations, nor are they isolated personal views. They are at the core of Eurocentric cognition. While philosophical thoughts have flip-flopped between ‘faith’ and atheism, the nature of the departure from the standard that was known millennia ago has not changed. Weissert (2013) reported the following on a federal judge (Edith H Jones, 5th Circuit Court of Appeals) in modern-day America. Notice how the notion of God and the logic of ‘mentally retarded’ is not different from the dogmatic assertions that are two millennia old. Jones is accused of saying that certain “racial groups like AfricanAmericans and Hispanics are predisposed to crime,” and are “prone to commit acts of violence” and be involved in more violent and “heinous” crimes than people of other ethnicities. The judge also allegedly said Mexicans would prefer to be on death row in the United States than serving prison terms in their native country, and that it’s an insult for the U.S. to look to the laws of other countries such as Mexico. The complaint also states that Jones said defendants’ claims of racism, innocence, arbitrariness, and violations of international law and treaties are just “red herrings” used by opponents of the death penalty, and that claims of “mental retardation” by capital defendants disgust her. The fact that those defendants were convicted of a capital crime is sufficient to prove they are not “mentally retarded,” the complaint alleges Jones to have said. And it alleges she said a death sentence provides a service to capitalcase defendants because they are likely to make peace with God only just before their execution.

So, was this logical train and superflux of scientific research derailed? Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), ‘the father of doctrinal philosophy’, took the logic of Averröes and introduced it to Europe with a simple yet highly consequential modification: he would color the (only) creator as God and define the collection of Roman Catholic Church documentation on what eventuated in the neighborhood of Jerusalem over a millennium earlier as the only communication of God to mankind (hence the title, bible – the (only) Book). Even though, Thomas Aquinas is known to have adapted the logic of Averröes, his pathway as well as prescribed origin of acquiring knowledge was diametrically opposite to the science introduced by Averröes. This is because the intrinsic features of both God and bible were dissimilar to the (only) creator and Qur’an, respectively (Armstrong, 1994). Table 4.4 summarizes the differences between Averröes’ ‘the book’ (Al-Kitab or Qur’an) and Thomas Aquinas’ ‘the book’ (Bible).

2. The name, God, appears frequently in King James version in English but no evidence exists as to the original scriptures. 3. Creator is unique, but His relationship with Jesus and Holy spirit is not unique or coherent. 4. No unique trait is mentioned. Words, such as “Jealous God’ are frequently used. 5. At no time it was claimed to be complete and comprehensive. It has evolved with time.

2. Entire universe is claimed to have been created by Allah, the name appears as the most frequently word in the Qur’an (2,669 times in 1,842 verses).

3. Creator is Allah, who wasn’t begotten or begot, and everything other than Allah is Allah’s creation (including time),

4. Has 99 unique traits, none belonging to the creation (Appendix-I). These traits define the essence of the Creator.

5. It is complete and comprehensive. Qur’an quotes the creator: [Nothing have We omitted from the Book] (Qur’an 6: 38).

8. No definite status of humans in general. Special status given to specific people of authority.

8. Defines humans as the viceroy (on earth) of the Creator (Qur’an 2:30), all prophets and messengers being the human race, with Adam being the first messenger.

(Continued)

7. Has over 40 versions in the English language alone.

7. Unique, there is only one version of it, preserved for over 1,400 years. [We have without doubt sent down the Message, and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption)] (Qur’an 15: 9).

6. Humans defined as the ‘representative’ of the Creator. Their free- 6. Humans are born sinners. The word ‘conscience’ is presented with oblique inference and the word ‘intention’ is dom of conscience (driver of intention), accountability, expected exercise of freedom of conscience, outcome are well defined. deemed less important than the planning of the outcome. Humans are born innocent with all traits necessary to be the ‘representative’ of the Creator.

1. It’s a narrative of events, recounted by people that never spent time with Jesus while he was alive.

1. It is the actual Word of Allah (God), not created but revealed for the benefit of all mankind. Allah says: [It is He Who sent down the Criterion to His servant, that it may be an admonition to all creatures] (Qur’an 25:1).

Table 4.4 Averroes’ Al-Kitab (the Book) vs. Thomas Aquinas’ Bible (the Book).

Psychological Grounding 203

9. No list of laws, mostly relying on 10 commandments (form Old Testament) that were also repeated in the Qur’an (6:151-152). No list of punishment or repercussion.

12. The word ‘science’ doesn’t exist in the Bible. Based on dogma.

13. Theological discourse based on dogma.

12. The word ilm ( , meaning “science”, the verb, yalamu, standing for ‘to understand’, something that is totally subjective and is the first step toward acquiring knowledge) is the second most commonly used word in the Qur’an.

13. It contains a complete code that provides for all areas of life, whether spiritual, intellectual, political, social, or economic. It is a code that has no boundaries of time, place or nation: [Verily this Qur’an doth guide to that which is most right] (Qur’an 17: 9).

14. Qur’an uses the word Deen to describe Islam, and states only 14. Religion is designated as Christianity and distinctly difDeen is Islam all through history. Deen means natural traits, govferent from all other religions. Religion is acquired or indoctrinated. erned by natural law or shariah (similar to dharma in Sanskrit*). (Certainly only Deen prescribed by Allah is Islam: Qur’an 3:19)

11. Refers to Jesus as a model. Not a sentence is preserved from the statements Jesus might might have made, or actions taken by him, or actions condoned by him.

11. Uses prophet Muhammad as a model, followed by his companions for best application of the Qur’an. Muhammad’s sayings, actions and actions unopposed by him (altogether called Hadith of Muhammad) are considered standard for the entire mankind at all times. The book of Hadith was compiled nearly 1,200 years ago and has been preserved ever since.

10. Promises to conserve the text until the day of judgment. Claims 10. Not applicable. all other divine revelations have been corrupted and abdicated by the Qur’an.

9. Comprehensive civil and criminal laws. All laws are divine with room for research for time-specific applications.

Table 4.4 Cont.

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16. The word ‘sword’ appears over 200 times. 17. Bible doesn’t have word ‘bible’ in it.

16. The number of time the word ‘sword’ appears is 0.

17. Qur’an gives reference to itself and defines it as the speech of Allah

* Wikipedia on Buddhism: Dharma is derived from Telugu of the ‘Dharmam’, meaning “what is established, law, duty, right”. The derived Prakrit word is Dhamma. In East Asia, the character for Dharma is , pronounced faˇ in Mandarin Chinese, hō in Japanese and beop in Korean. The Tibetan complete English translation of this term is chos. In Uyghur, Mongolian, and some other Central Asian languages, it is nom, which derives from the Ancient Greek word νόμος, nómos, meaning «law».

15. All humans created with original sin.

15. All humans born perfect and free of sins (Qur’an: 95:4).

Psychological Grounding 205

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For old Europe and the rest of the world that it would eventually dominate, this act of Thomas Aquinas indeed became the driver of a wedge between two pathways, with the origin, consequent logic, and the end being starkly opposite. With Aristotle’s logic, something either is or is not: if one is ‘true’, the other must be false. Because, Averröes’ ‘the creator’ and Thomas Aquinas’s ‘God’ are both used to denominate monotheist faith, the concept of science and religion became a matter of conflicting paradox (Pickover, 2004). Averröes called the (only) creator as ‘The Truth’ (In Qur’anic Arabic, the word ‘the Truth’ and ‘the Creator’ refer to the same entity). His first premise pertained to the book (Qur’an) that said, “Verily unto Us is the first and the last (of everything)” (89.13). Contrast this to a “modern” view of a creator. In Carl Sagan’s words (Hawking, 1988), “This is also a book about God…or perhaps about the absence of God. The word God fills these pages. Hawking embarks on a quest to answer Einstein’s famous question about whether God had any choice in creating the universe. Hawking is attempting, as he explicitly states, to understand the mind of God. And this makes all the more unexpected the conclusion of the effort, at least so far: a universe with no edge in space, no beginning or end in time, and nothing for a Creator to do.” The essence of Creator and Creation was already put in disarray through the introduction of trinity and the ‘original sin’ concept, but hundreds of years later Thomas Aquinas introduced profound change in the form of cognition, and Europe hasn’t looked back since. In every aspect, the same doctrinal philosophy has been used.

4.4

Eurocentric Prejudice

What we see here is a breakdown of logical thinking. Some do recognize the collapse of natural cognition, but no one sees the possibility of a fundamentally different approach that doesn’t belong to modern Europe. It turns out Europe and Eurocentric scientists and savants would not recover from this dogmatic pattern. At no time did they set the direction of an investigation/study in such a way that they would be open to the outcome and would embrace the outcome as the truth, thereby making decisions based on the new knowledge. Long before European scientists and savants were immersed in the discussion of how flat the earth is, or which date to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection or Easter, or New Year’s day, or how to control people’s life by frightening them with hell, another ‘religion’

Psychological Grounding 207 was taking root in the deserts of Arabia. Muhammad, an unlettered man, with no exposure to previous scriptures, was born in 570 AD and passed away in 630 AD. While he is ranked as the most influential man of human history (Hart, 1992; 2000), little is discussed about the five centuries that followed the life of the Prophet Muhammad, of ancient learning by the Muslim scholars inspired by Islam. During the period of post-Thomas Aquinas (father of doctrinal philosophy) cognition in Europe, the work of Islamic scholars continued and today, if one just searches in Wikipedia, one will find: Ibn Sina (Avecina) is named the father of modern medicine and alchemy, Ibn Rushd (Averröes) the father of secular philosophy and education, Ibn Haitham (Alhazen) the father of modern optics, Al-Kindi (Alkindus), the father of information technology, Ibn Khaldun, the father of modern social sciences, Al-Khwārizmī,  the founding father of algebra and mathematics, and Al-Farabi, named the father of epistemology and metaphysics.  Yet, all of them are listed as either polyscientists or polymaths. In addition, all of them are considered to be inspired by the prophet Muhammad. This is truly an unprecedented event in human history that has received little attention from the Eurocentric ‘scientists’ and ‘scholars’. Prophet Muhammad was listed by astrophysicist, Michael Hart (1992; 2000) as the most influential world leader. Who is second in that list? Sir Isaac Newton, the man who wrote more on Christian doctrine than on science.  His Church wasn’t based in Rome, it was the Church of England, headed by the Monarch. The transition from ‘religion’ to ‘politics’ wasn’t even subtle. Some of our recent work only began to touch upon the original theories of Islamic scholars that could serve humanity only if they were not altered with the intent of fitting a conclusion new scientists were trying to come up with in order to satisfy the Church, the Government, or the Corporation. Newton was unique, because he satisfied the Church and the Monarch simultaneously. It was possible because the head of the Church of England was also the Monarch (which remains true today).  While Newton had no reason to challenge the first premise of the church that he belonged to, others (e.g., Russian scientists, Einstein) didn’t dare question the first premise of anyone, but most notably that of Newton. If they did, they were quickly called ‘the anarchist’. One of the most widely accepted premises in modern society is that the human race has evolved continuously from the state of savagery to enlightenment. No one questions the premise that Adam was a caveman, whose cognitive skills were not far off from ‘ancestral’ apes. If we are to invoke a paradigm shift, we must be able to cite a few facts from history and question the validity of the ‘continuous progress’ theory..

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4.4.1 The Elephant in the Room: Why Modern European Philosophers Overlooked Logical Cognition Several scholars noted that conscience – the essence of humanity – has been disconnected from all considerations in modern European philosophy. Few, however, questioned the validity of European theories of science or social science. Blumer (1954) dared question social theories advanced in the enlightened world, albeit limited to empirical science. He wrote: Now, it should be evident that concepts in social theory are distressingly vague. Representative terms like mores, social institutions, attitudes, social class, value, cultural norm, personality, reference group, social structure, primary group, social process, social system, urbanization, accommodation, differential discrimination and social control do not discriminate cleanly their empirical instances. At best they allow only rough identification, and in what is so roughly identified they do not permit a determination of what is covered by the concept and what is not.

All modern European social theories are premised on considering humans as ‘just another species’, disconnecting human conscience or consciousness from human behavior (Islam et al., 2013). Here, we’ll discuss one of the most widely accepted (consciously or otherwise) theories that is based on the premise that humans are liabilities. Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus, a British scholar, advanced the theory of rent. In his publications during 1798 through 1826, he identified various factors that would affect human population. For him, the population gets controlled by disease or famine. His predecessors believed that human civilization can be improved without limitations. Malthus, on the other hand, thought that the “dangers of population growth is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man”. He added his religious fervor to this doctrine and considered it divine and wrote: Must it not be acknowledged by an alternative examiner of the histories of mankind, that in every age and in every State in which man has existed, or does now exist that the increase of population is necessarily limited by the means of subsistence, that population does invariably increase when the means of subsistence increase, and, that the superior power of population is repressed, and the actual population kept equal to the means of subsistence, by misery and vice.

He supported the Corn Laws and opposed the poor law. The poor law had been in place for centuries to deal with the ‘nuisance’ of beggars and

Psychological Grounding 209 ‘impotent poor’. The Corn Laws were to protect local farmers from less expensive imports of wheat and other food grains. The Corn Laws need a bit of elaboration. In 1816, the volcanic eruption in the Indonesian archipelago incurred tremendous consequences. It spewed an enormous volume of dust into the atmosphere that travelled around the globe in the jet stream and led to the “year with no summer” in Europe and the northern half of North America. In 1817, grain crops on the continent of Europe failed. In industrial Great Britain, where the factory owners and their politicians boasted how the country’s relatively (compared to the rest of the world) highly advanced industrial economy had overcome the “capriciousness of Nature,” hunger and famine actually stalked the English countryside for the first time in more than a century and a half. The famine conditions were blamed on the difficulties attending the import of extra supplies of food from the European continent and led directly to a tremendous and unprecedented pressure to eliminate the Corn Laws – the system of high tariffs protecting English farmers and landlords from the competition of cheaper foodstuffs from Europe or the Americas. Politically, the industry lobby condemned the Corn Laws as the main obstacle to cheap food, winning broad public sympathy and support. Economically, the Corn Laws actually operated to keep hundreds of thousands employed in the countryside on thousands of small agricultural plots, at a time when the demands of expanding industry required uprooting and forced the rural population to work as factory laborers. Increasing the industrial reserve army would enable British industry to reduce wages. Capturing command of that new source of cheaper labor was, in fact, the industrialists’ underlying aim. Without the famine of “the year with no summer,” it seems unlikely that British industry would have targeted the Corn Laws for elimination, therefore blasting its way into dominating world markets. Even then, because of the still prominent involvement of the anti-industrial lobby of aristocratic landlords who dominated the House of Lords, it would take British industry nearly another 30 years. Between 1846 and 1848 Parliament eliminated the Corn Laws, industry captured access to a desperate workforce fleeing the ruin brought to the countryside, and overall industrial wages were driven sharply downwards. On this train of economic development, the greatly increased profitability of British industry took the form of a vastly whetted appetite for new markets at home and abroad, including the export of important industrial infrastructure investments in “British North America,” i.e., Canada, Latin America, and India. Extracting minerals and other valuable raw materials for processing into new commodities in this manner brought an unpredictable level of further acceleration to the industrialization of the globe in regions where industrial capital had not

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accumulated significantly, either because traditional development blocked its role or because European settlement remained sparse. Malthus’s theories were later rejected based on empirical observations that confirmed that famine and natural disasters are not the primary cause of population control. Many economists, including Nobel Laureate economist Amartya Sen (1998) confirmed that the man-made factor played a greater role in controlling human population. However, Malthus’s theory lives on in every aspect of European social science and hard science. His most notable follower was Charles Darwin, whose theory of natural selection is eerily similar to Mathusian theory. They are similar in two ways: 1) they both assume that humans are just another species, thus disconnecting human conscience from human being; 2) they both use natural causes as the sole factor in deciding human population, thus inferring they know the underlying program of nature science. Of more significance is the fact that Darwin was considered to be a ‘hard scientist’ whereas Malthus was considered to be a social scientist and economist. This aspect needs some elaboration. Darwin said that the emergence of a species distinct in definite ways from its immediate predecessor and new to the surrounding natural environment generally marked the final change in the sequence of steps in an evolutionary process. The essence of his argument concerned the nonlinearity of the final step, the leap from what was formerly one species to distinctly another species. Darwin was silent on the length of time that may have passed between the last observed change in a species-line and the point in time at which its immediate predecessor emerged – the characteristic time of the predecessor species – was the time period in which all the changes so significant for later on were prepared. This latter could be eons, spanning perhaps several geological eras. This idea of tnatural as characteristic time is missing from every European theorists. This is not unexpected. Ever since the work of Thomas Aquinas, Europeans scientists simply repeated the dogmatic adherence to tangible timelines while distancing themselves from doctrinal philosophy. However, as Islam et al., (2012) has recently pointed out, they didn’t employ the scientific methodology of Averröes while accepting him as the father of secular philosophy in Europe as well as claiming themselves to be secular. This claim wasn’t genuine. A second, but equally telling source of pressure on social scientists to mathematize their research methodology was a sense that their work would not be taken seriously as scientific without some such mathematical rigor. As the models and mathematics from the so-called “exact” sciences would hardly be appropriate or seem credible in any field of study focusing on human beings and their incredible variety of needs, wants and impulses, another kind of mathematics would have to do. Questions of

Psychological Grounding 211 history and historical phenomena were also a convenient target because of the lack of any means to describe them with any meaningful, non-trivial mathematical model (Zatzman and Islam, 2007). In terms of economics and purely social theory, John Maynard Keynes was probably the biggest supporter of Malthus. Similar to Malthus, Keynes also believed that historical time had nothing to do with establishing the truth or falsehood of economic doctrine. “In the long run, we are all dead,” he wrote. He tied this to a stance that attacked all easy acceptance without question of any of the underlying assumptions propping up all forms of orthodoxy. Accordingly, this retort was taken as the sign of a fresh and rebellious spirit. However, in his own theoretical work he was frequently at pains to differentiate what happens to individuals who are driven by shortterm considerations from what happens at the societal level, at which he was theorizing about broad historically sweeping movements of economic cause and effect (Keynes 1936). Keynes would emerge completely unscathed. No one challenged his theories, which were accepted at face value with doctrinal fervor. Until now, every Nobel Laureate in Economics derives his or her inspiration from Keynes. One of them is Joseph Stiglitz, who was deconstructed by Zatzman and Islam (2007) as well as Zatzman (2012). Even though it is not explicitly recognized, for obvious reasons, Karl Marx also derived his inspiration from Malthus and did little to change the premise that Malthus built his theories on. For Marx, however, human beings did have connection to the conscience but that conscience was solely dedicated to “survival”. This ‘conscience’ is not any different from what has been known as ‘instinct’ – something that every animal has. This survival, in Marx’s belief, was the reason for dialectic materialism and the class struggle. Similar to what has been pointed out in the discourse on human civilization (Islam et al., 2013), the only possibility that Marx didn’t investigate is the existence of higher conscience that makes a human unselfish and considerate of long-term consequences. Such a deviation from a long-term approach is strictly Eurocentric. Such addiction to a short-term approach was non-existent prior to Thomas Aquinas and the adoption of doctrinal philosophy. What made Marx popular was his empathy for the poor and the oppressed. His notion of capitalism being the “dictatorship of bourgeoisie”, a notion which by itself is based on the same premise of ‘human being is an evil animal’, hit a sympathetic chord with a wide range of followers. Similar to what Malthus predicted in terms of population control by famine and natural disasters, Marx predicted that capitalism would be subject to internal conflicts and would implode, being replaced with socialism. This in

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turn will lead to the replacement of the “dictatorship of the bourgeoisie” with the “dictatorship of the proletariat”. His theory was so convincing that the Soviet Union was formed in 1922, leading the way to many countries formally adopting Marxism as their political system. In 1949, the People’s Republic of China became communist, which meant that nearly half of the world population was immersed in a political system that can be best described as the dream application of Marx’s political theory. Marx is recognized as one of the most influential persons of all time (Hart, 2000). Yet, the prediction of Marx that capitalism will be replaced with socialism and eventually give rise to stateless, classless society has utterly failed. Instead of a stateless society ruled by “workers”, socialism created the biggest and most repressive government regimes in human history. Many celebrate the fact that every promise of capitalism made in terms of a free-market economy has been broken and monopoly has become the modus operandi of the biggest corporations of such a ‘free-market’ economy, but few point out the demise of Marxist predictions in societies that did everything to uphold Marx’s ideals.

4.5

Movement from Original Sin to Original Gene

We have shown in previous volumes of this book series (Islam et al., 2015 and Islam et al., 2016) the ‘prophets’ (more like profiteers) of new science are no better ‘messengers of truth’ and indeed are the pimps that have sold the truth for a meagre price. In this process, every theory is tainted with bad intention and it is no accident that the same people touted the notion ‘the road to hell is paved with good intention’. That ‘good’ was never intended to be real. Every technology, be it for processing mass or producing energy, is meant to maximize profit at the expense of its true value. In this chapter, an ancient model that has been forgotten ever since the implementation of dogma by the Roman Catholic Church is presented. It is shown that the definition of humanity was perfected in the Qur’an, the only written document that has been preserved for over 14 centuries in its original form. The original claim by prophet Muhammad was that the Qur’an was a divine revelation. This book has the word ‘science’ (ilm in Arabic) over 700 times and contains no dogmatic assertions. The Qur’anic model states clearly the role of humans as the khalifah (viceroy) of the creator that must spend a set period of time on earth. It lays out the foundation of a society based on the conscious and conscientious participation of every individual. It represents the epitome of liberalism while providing one with a roadmap that is permanent. So, the lifestyle of this Caliphate

Psychological Grounding 213 model is the optimum of liberalism and conservatism. Islam et al., (2016b) have shown that the viceroy model is the only one that removes the ‘original sin’ attribute of humans. They examined fundamental traits of humans if the assumption of ‘original sin’ is removed. It is shown that humans emerge as ‘godly’ only if they act based on conscience. Any departure from a conscious and conscientious pathway makes humans and all ensuing policies and agendas inherently implosive. This model of humans can be best characterized as based on sustainability and hope, thus replacing all current models that are based on fear and scarcity. The paper shows how the viceroy model was progressively replaced with the currently used ‘born sinner’ model.

4.5.1 Cognitive Background Recently, there has been a surge of research ‘findings’ that tie the answers to the fundamental question of humanity to numerous issues involving symbolic meaning, ontology, value, purpose, ethics, good and evil, free will, the existence of one or multiple gods, conceptions of God, the soul, and the afterlife. This new surge delves into the ‘science of intangibles’ and attempts to legitimize aphenomenal premises through dogma-like discussion (Khan and Islam, 2016; Blomberg, 2007). This narration focuses primarily on describing related empirical facts about the universe, exploring the context and parameters concerning the ‘how’ of life, always involving an illogical, unfounded fundamental premise. With such a modus operandi—viz. the creation of theories with an unfounded first premise—new philosophical and even natural science also studies and provides recommendations for the pursuit of well-being and a related conception of morality. An alternative, “humanistic approach” poses the question, “What is the meaning of my life?” The value of the question pertaining to the purpose of life may coincide with the achievement of ultimate reality, or a feeling of oneness, or even a feeling of sacredness. Again, this narration of morality is entirely Eurocentric and devoid of any sound footing (Islam, 2016b). Over the last millennium, even after the notion of ‘original sin’ has been discredited as aphenomenal, it is widely and falsely believed that natural cognition, or some form of normative cognition, is backward-looking, and that humans are incapable of finding their own paths of knowledge, and they must be indoctrinated into being “enlightened” based on the fundamental principles of the Enlightenment philosophical tradition. What is interesting to note, however, is that at no time did science depart from a dogma-like characterization of humanity. Since the introduction of dogma by the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman Empire that adopted

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Christianity as the state religion, every biblical designation has been overtly criticized while the very traits of ‘original sin’ have been blended in various forms. (Zatzman et al., 2007). This narration starts with the childhood model as proposed by educational philosopher Piaget, who infers without justification that the thinking of children is based on intuition and still not completely logical. This in turn transforms the ‘original sin’ model into the ‘original illogical’ model. What is important to understand is that there is still the use of a “model” nonetheless, and each model is just as illogically justified as the original sin model of the Roman Catholic Church. Just because adults look at things in a different way doesn’t mean infants are illogical. A proper analysis would put this in perspective as a transition from intangible cognition to tangible cognition. Rather than saying that the infants cannot yet grasp the ‘more complex concepts such as cause and effect, time, and comparison’, we ought to point out they don’t use the same concept as adults to transit from intangibles (e.g., thinking) to tangibles (speaking). Considering that Homo sapien literally translates into ‘thinking men’, we cannot regurgitate the old concept that children are subhumans. Sadly, this has been the only narration allowed in the modern era. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development (Inhelder and Piaget, 1958) is only an example of, specifically, the creation of an unfounded first premise used to deduce data and observations from. This constitutes quite literally what we may call normative deduction. Surprisingly, the idea of normative deduction from our first premises has not been criticized, but rather, encouraged in the modern era. Criticism of normative deduction is often limited to deduction from religious scriptures, finding its peak in the Enlightenment era. The “original sin model” has been accommodated in all social science models, ranging from feminism (Zatzman et al., 2007) to law (Ellis, 2012), in which individuals channel their observations into theoretical constructions before the observations. The main criticism of Orientalism, that one uses preconceived notions of the East instead of studying “the East” for what it is, is the same criticism being deployed towards modern theories in the social sciences. This ‘orientalist’ view of humanity has become synonymous with an indisputable and ‘secular’ notion of feminism (Farris, 2013), and more recently in the form of neo-Orientalism (Islam, 2016c; Levine, 1978). In science, the original sin model has become synonymous with theories that attempt to define the fundamental trait of humans, tantamount to independent thinking and free will, for example (Moore, 2007). For instance, Moore (2007) rationalizes conscientious behavior as an act similar to Adam and Eve’s ‘original sin’ of eating forbidden fruit. He draws parallels between his experience of undertaking insider research

Psychological Grounding 215 and the original sin the biblical Adam and Eve committed when they “ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge”. Here, anarchy and revolt against the Establishment’s agenda is made synonymous with ‘original sin’. We can clearly see how the use of a single premise—in this case, that we are rebellious—can lead to the use of channeling observations (such as this unorthodox interpretation of the Bible) into theories (which, again, is the first premise). This accommodation of ‘original sin’ has been based on Newtonian mechanics and accentuated by practically all new “scientific” theories, even though the name ‘God’ has been absent from the works of hard science. However, the connection to God has been made by anyone interested in the exploitation of religious sentiments of the unassuming public (Scruton, 2010), with the overwhelming conclusion that: “the laws of gravity and quantum theory allow universes to appear spontaneously from nothing”, therefore, legitimizing Hawking’s conclusion that there is no need for God. This same premise-based deduction is found even in the natural sciences. Absent from this narration is the consideration of the premise if there is a God, the human perception of ‘need of God’ is irrelevant, at best. The fact that new science has adopted cognition means that are as illogical as dogma made way for the surge of numerous publications asserting that new science is compatible with doctrinal philosophy (Wegter-McNelly, 2003). In particular, quantum mechanics has made room for incessant possibilities of matching any illogical premise, including faith dictating reality (Brecha, 2002). Quantum computing is literally a computerized version of the deduction of theories from a first premise, a priori to an analysis of observations. Others have conveniently extended the notion to behavioral science, forming the basis for applications in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries (McCrory, 2010). To date, very few, if any, have posited the appropriate question that would generate true knowledge, leading to dogma-free cognition. Apologists have emerged from both extremes of the liberalism spectrum. The feminist narration created a new line of apology and shunned any possibility of questioning the fundamental premises of the doctrine of feminism or neoliberalism (Lerum and Dworkin, 2015). A few recent articles have made suggestions that feminism and neo-liberalism are infused with dogmatic double standards (Scharff, 2011; Funk, 2013; Miriam, 2012), and that they are little more than original doctrines of money and control (Fraser, 2012). It would be inefficient to delve into each and every one of these theories while their logical deconstructions have been completed elsewhere. What is necessary to note is that these theories and schools upon which much

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literature and theoretical work have been written are inherently flawed due to the non-questioning and non-validation of their respective first premises. What is also interesting is that in even modern Western discourse, in the entire discussion of humanity and humanism, mention of the Qur’an has been absent. This is remarkable, considering that Qur’an offers in clearest terms all the answers that elude Eurocentric thinkers (Vasalou, 2002). In a way, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 have triggered the discussion of Islam, albeit in the context of ‘clash of civilizations’. However, as Islam (2016) has pointed out, this discussion barely made any dent on the true nature of Islam or humanity. Of course there have been numerous critiques of both the ‘savagery of Islam’ and the hegemony of the United States in the context of the “war on terror,” but most work didn’t delve into the humanity model that is the principal focus of this paper. Even the most sympathetic papers limited the discussion in pointing out the double standards of neoliberalism and feminism (Bahramitash, 2005). As a note regarding the methodological background of this paper, one should understand that we use a void, valueless deductive method of logic as proposed in Islam et al., (2013) Cognition is seen as a five-step process that has origins in questioning, as is summarized below. cognition starts with a real question that has only a Yes (1,+) or No (0,-) answer. Such a question doesn’t arise if it has already been resolved in a source of absolute truth (if one can be confirmed exists through this same process) make niyah (original intention) to start the cognition process solely in search of the truth (haq) so a right (haq) decision is made at the end of the cognition process; collect all available data and filter out questionable sources; fuzzy logic (manteq) phase: ask questions of dialectical nature (manteq) that will have a qualitative answer (by collecting a series of yes/no answers). Each manteq questions should be motivated by qsd (dynamic intention) that is in line with niyah; and logic (aql) phase: Ask the final question to determine the yes/no answer to the question asked in Point 1. In the previous chapter, a consistent and logically sound model for humanity is presented. It is inspired by the designation of khalifah (viceroy) as used in the Qur’an. Using that designation, the paper examines how the purpose of life as well as accountability of individual actions can be

Psychological Grounding 217 Decision Disinformation Opacity

Justtification

Figure 4.1. This is the inevitable outcome of the ‘original sin’ model that reverses the cognition process, and thereon corrupts the entire humanity. Unfortunately, there is no exception that we can cite in the entire history of modern Europe.

blended in to form a guideline for pursuit of knowledge in every discipline. In developing a more whole theory of humanity so as to provide a construction of universality and human rights, we must start from examining definitions of the purpose of life, and its role in the lives of others. Our discussion of the process of false premise-based cognition is demonstrated in Figure 4.1.

4.6 Purpose of Life and Ideal Behavior For whatever one can gather from ancient cultures, there was no confusion about the purpose of human life. In the legal and ethical systems of life that religions may have represented, there was always a conception of humanity and a purpose of each individual life. This purpose starts off with the designation of a formal status for humans. This section analyzes the definitions and conceptions of the purpose of life from Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. In ancient India, the concept of representation, or life’s purpose, is founded in the notion of ‘avatar’. The word is derived from from the Sanskrit avatāra, meaning ‘descent,’ from ava ‘down’ + tar- ‘to cross.’ The word was used to describe what were believed to be deities or representative of gods on earth. This is not to be conflated with the notion of the reincarnation of Jesus, for example, as the word avatar can be used to describe the pious and gurus in general—i.e., the expert practitioners of God’s attributes. It in fact can signal the fact that God’s presence is in all creatures (Seth, 2002). This

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implies that Hinduism itself supported the notion that on an ideal level, the purpose of life is representing and practicing the attributes of God. Hence, we can attribute the purpose of life (or the many lives, according to the laws of reincarnation) to be fulfilling of a godly ideal. In Islam, the Qur’an formalized and expounded upon the notion of the purpose of life. As found in verse 2:30 of the Qur’an, humans are all seen as ‘khalifah’, the word best translated as viceroy or vicegerent. In Islam, man’s ultimate life objective is to worship (Arabic word ‘abd’ literally means ‘obey with love’) the creator Allah (English: God) by abiding by the Divine guidelines revealed in the Qur’an and the Tradition of the Prophet. It is stated: “And I (Allâh) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should be obedient (to Allah)” (Qur’an 51:56). Earthly life is merely a test, determining one’s afterlife, either in Jannah (Paradise) or in Jahannam (Hell). The Qur’an describes the purpose of creation as follows: “Blessed be he in whose hand is the kingdom, he is powerful over all things, who created death and life that he might examine which of you is best in deeds, and he is the almighty, the forgiving” (Qur’an 67:1–2). So, a viceroy (human) is sent to the earth (Ardha in Arabic means ‘habitat of humans’) for a test period. If he carries himself well, he gets to return to heaven; if not he goes to hell. Figure 4.2 demonstrates how when people are able to realize their objective of life, their actions are based on that objective. This would be what a viceroy would use to be constantly vigilant of what he is required to do in order to conform to the job description. Hence, if the objective and nature of life is pro-humanity, such actions will follow. Does a human have to have a fair chance of going to heaven? In Islam it is believed that humans are created with best of features (Qur’an 95:4), even the word ‘human’ (insan in Arabic) meaning ‘adorable’, ‘trusting’, yet forgetful. This notion of forgetfulness makes it a test, since a perfection would be impossible to test. However, this ‘weakness’ is anything but a description

Information

Decision/ objective function

Data

Figure 4.2 The operative axis of a viceroy.

Psychological Grounding 219 of ‘original sin’—such a theoretical conception is directly opposed to the Islamic theory of ‘fitra’, human traits that naturally flow towards good and consciousness (Islam et al., 2015). In fact, it is logical that the Creator equip humans with qualities that prepare them to be a viceroy. For instance, a good King would send a good person to represent him as a viceroy. What is a good viceroy? He keeps in contact with the King (‘salah’ in Arabic and yoga or joga in Sanskrit both mean “communication”), manages the finances with utmost care (generosity and charity is fundamental trait that is mandated), and acts in the same manner the King would have acted if the viceroy were not there. So, how does one act like the King? He follows the King’s traits. How is that trait embedded? The word ‘deen’ in Arabic and dharma in Sanskrit both mean ‘natural traits’ (and not religion as commonly mistranslated). It is also logical that a good King would prepare his viceroy well and give him enough provisions to fulfill his job. Finally, for him to be held accountable, a viceroy must have certain freedom. Islam gives the freedom of intention, whereas everything else (including provisions) are a part of the universal order for which he has no accountability. The first Hadith of the book of Bukhari states that a man will be judged for his intention. In addition men are equipped with 99 good traits that are similar to those of the Creator, albeit at a miniscule level. Let’s review some of the traits: 1. Ar-Rahman (literally means ‘a womb’ that extends to infinity in space). Humans are, therefore, born with Rahma; the simplest translation is ‘empathy’ for everyone and everything; 2. Ar-Raheem (literally means ‘a womb’ that extends to infinity in time). Humans are, therefore, born with empathy at all times; 3. Al-Malik (literally means ‘the owner of everything’). Humans are, therefore, born with one item that they have full control over. This happens to be intention. It is logical, because the first hadith of Book of Bokhari confirms, we’ll be judged by our intention. Now, does this ownership risk violating universal order? No. Intention has no continuity with anyone other than the individual whose intention is in question. So, what it does is give people the freedom of intention, without disturbing the universal order, thereby holding them responsible for the intention that he had full control over; 4. Qur’an names a total of 99 such traits of the Creator and asserts that humans are created with those qualities so they are prepared to be the viceroy of the creator. Appendix-A lists these 99 human qualities that are inherent to every human.

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In both Hinduism and Islam there are godly ideal role models and traits in which the purpose of life (more emphasized in Islam) is to represent the creator. Hence, the idea of a human being was that of naturally good actions, actions which have been ‘good’ by the originator of creation—the creator. So where did this conception of humanity go wrong? Chronologically speaking, the first major distortion of this understanding of human life was imparted by the Roman Catholic Church. Metaphorically speaking, this distortion would be akin to the development of “sugar” following the HSSA degradation (i.e., indicative of the origin of the degeneration of sweeteners: in our case, of humanity).4 Although Islam accepted Jesus as a prophet or messenger sent by Allah, Islam did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God and therefore could not accept Christ as standing at the center of recognizing Allah. Yet, this was not the most critical difference. The critical difference as far as religious doctrine was concerned lay elsewhere and went beyond the realm of purely religious doctrine. At the core of real Muslim-Christian differences lay the fact that the Muslim outlook did not exclude the possibility that social and individual conditions of the believers were neither necessarily eternal nor static, and that the effort to harmonize and sort out internal differences under such conditions could strengthen the internal unity of a Muslim community. For Christians, prior to the Reformation, all this was absolutely incompatible with their religion’s conception of Original Sin. This doctrine, which in itself holds out no hope for reconciliation of any kind among individuals or reunification of community purpose, is a defining feature of Christian belief. Indeed, Christian observers of the apparent internal cohesion of most Muslim communities over the period of the Moorish empire preferred to interpret these phenomena as evidence of mass submission to rule under a variant of oriental despotism. Allan Keith notes that horrific crimes, bloodshed, war, oppression, suppression against people by Christians and others—what we may term ‘crimes against humanity’—have been justified and tolerated (i.e., encourages passivity) due to the Christian conception that humans are being punished for their original sin (Keith, 1992). Throughout this period of the rise and spread of Islamic belief and Islamic rule, the Christian religious community itself was also divided or even crumbling. On the one hand, there were the followers of the Bishop of Rome, designating himself as Pope in most of Europe. On the other hand

4

HSSA stands for Honey-Sugar-Saccharine-Aspartame – a progressively degrading process as first identified in: M.R. Islam, A.B. Chhetri, and M.M. Khan, Greening of Petroleum Operations (New York: Wiley-Scrivener, 2010).

Psychological Grounding 221 there were the followers of the Eastern or Greek Orthodox rite in Greece, Russia and parts of the Balkans influenced by Russia. Life’s purpose in Christianity is to seek divine salvation through the grace of God and intercession of Christ (cf. John 11:26). The New Testament speaks of God wanting to have a relationship with humans both in this life and the life to come, which can happen only if one’s sins are forgiven (John 3:16–21; 2 Peter 3:9). It is at this point where dogma comes into play and the nonsensical argument emerges as: “I (God) am going create man and woman with original sin. Then, I am going to impregnate a woman with myself as her child, so that I can be born. Once alive, I will kill myself as a sacrifice to myself. To save you (humans who accept me as the ‘savior’) from the sin I originally condemned you to”. If the only reference to Christianity one gives is the Bible, then one finds out that there is no such thing as Bible (the book), since it has 40 varying translations in English alone. How did that dogma change when ‘enlightenment’ came in terms of Western philosophy? In terms of the origin of the universe, the big bang theory, the introduction of quantum nature, multiple (numerous) histories of each point, nature as the creator of ‘numerous universes’, and even the definition of what’s true and false has introduced a logic that is more illogical than dogma. What dogma did was introduce one aphenomenal standard (Zatzman and Islam, 2007), whereas the ‘Western philosophers’ have introduced numerous such standards. The scientific equivalent of this transition is a quantum leap from bipolar to multi-polar (schizophrenia) and is best described as ‘deliberate schizophrenia’ (Islam et al., 2015). In fact, similar to the cognition found in Figure 4.1, the fact that Christianity has a negative interpretation of the purpose of life—that we are naturally evil and deserve our material misfortunes—and that the way to remove the evil is through faith (and not action)—i.e., the lack of a systematic criteria to behave and act in a manner that is coherent with God as well as society (as we demonstrated Islam and Hinduism do, and as we show the ancient Greeks have)—there are fertile grounds for the insertion of immoral material pursuits that can suppress humanity. In other words, because Christianity and its actions lack a holistic approach of action in this world based on the objective set by the creator, political manipulation and economic systems can occur even when people are practicing the religion of Christianity. This is what we call the “trinity model” in which the original sin doctrine gave birth to the trinity model of religion. This trinity model, based on a lack of appreciation for humanity and involvement in the material (societal, political, economic) sphere of life, fueled the alternative material trinity that developed: the government, society, and labor, all

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Is not

Father Corporation

Is

Is

ot

Is n

Is n

ot

Money God

Is Church Holy sprit

Figure 4.3 The material trinity.

based on devotion to money. Similar to Marx’s theory of materialism (e.g., Marx and O’Malley, 1977), it is in the abstract and also historically true that Christianity is disconnected from the purpose of the creator (original sin) and lack of it allowed for the existence of the material trinity found in Figure 4.3. A comprehensive examination of Christianity in the abstract and in history is beyond the scope of this paper but would be a timely supplement to our comments here. One such example is the word, ‘quantum’. In physics it means: a) The smallest amount of a physical quantity that can exist independently, especially a discrete quantity of electromagnetic radiation; and b) this amount of energy regarded as a unit. This formulation that starts with the false premise that something ‘independent’ can exist in nature disconnects mass and energy matter and renders subsequent build-up irrelevant. Apparently, such ‘isolation’ is necessary to observe phenomena. However, the invoking of a false premise and subsequent truncation of history render the entire process aphenomenal. This has been going on for millennia. Ever since the concept of atom that was thought to be a fundamental particle of even thought material or God, scientists have only made the scope of the atom bigger or smaller, both ending up with an aphenomenal point. In the smaller scale, it has ended up with Higgs boson of zero mass, and on the larger scale, it has become the Big Bang of an infinitely small object with infinitely large mass. Yet, scientists are celebrating the ‘discovery’ of these

Psychological Grounding 223 particles (Jha, 2011). Both scientists (as demonstrated here) and religious scholars (as demonstrated through the proposition of original sin) have developed concepts of what they believe to be the ‘true’ first premise, and both have justified externally observed phenomena by their first premises which themselves have not been conformed true. This leads to us finding logical inconsistencies in the respective theories, as well as a disconnection (in Christianity’s case) between human consciousness and its surroundings (through the original sin concept). After the introduction of dogma, it has been all downhill. The purpose of life has been reduced to ‘be happy’, ‘have fun’, ‘live to the fullest’ (translation: maximize pleasure and minimize pain). Everything in history has been reconstructed to support this latest notion of the purpose of life. For instance one can cite the example of Antisthenes, a pupil of Socrates. He is known to have outlined the themes of Cynicism, stating that the purpose of life is living a life of Virtue which agrees with Nature. Happiness depends upon being self-sufficient and the master of one’s mental attitude; suffering is the consequence of false judgments of value, which cause negative emotions and a concomitant vicious character. This philosophy has no contradiction with the purpose of life outlined above. In fact, it is further stated that Cynical life rejects conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and fame, by being free of the possessions acquired in pursuing the conventional. Once again, there is no contradiction with the status of humans being ‘viceroy’. However, how is this interpreted by new scientists? It is said: “as reasoning creatures, people could achieve happiness via rigorous training, by living in a way natural to human beings. The world equally belongs to everyone, so suffering is caused by false judgments of what is valuable and what is worthless per the customs and conventions of society.” Then it is described that whatever comes naturally is called ‘natural’ and whatever gives one instant pleasure and quick short-term victory is valuable, turning everything into a race for pleasure in this world. Instead of finding a purpose of life and adjusting life’s difficulties around it, removal of the concept of a creator has paved the road for philosophers to claim that something is natural, and hence good, when it occurs physically (or even such that it “feels” natural or good). This idea has led to human thought being disconnected from a) the truth (what God wills from people), and b) humanity: people who subject external phenomena to their own subjective beliefs regarding the universe. This explains how Christianity can ignore and even justify human suffering around the world—through the unfounded and illogical conception of human sin—and how, on the other extreme, physical pleasure can be a dictator

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of morality.5 This is complete disconnection from the purpose that was known since the beginning of time. Another case in point is: Epicurus, a pupil of Pamphilus of Samos. He allegedly taught that the greatest good is in seeking modest pleasures, to attain tranquility and freedom from fear (ataraxia) via knowledge, friendship, and virtuous, temperate living; bodily pain (aponia) is absent through one’s knowledge of the workings of the world and of the limits of one’s desires. This is entirely consistent with the original purpose of human life as stated earlier in this section and is supported by numerous verses of the Qur’an (e.g., 79:37-41). However, later interpretation took it to the other extreme, making it in line with the Roman Catholic Church’s stance on self-emollition and avoidance of social responsibilities, and such conclusions were made: “Combined, freedom from pain and freedom from fear are happiness in its highest form. Epicurus’ lauded enjoyment of simple pleasures is quasi-ascetic “abstention” from sex and the appetites” (Islam et al., 2015). Another example of morality devoid of being based on a purpose of life, is the evolution theory that characterizes humans as a continuity in the evolution of animals. The first person to posit the theory of natural selection and the co-discoverer of the theory of evolution by natural selection with Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, did not think human evolution could be explained solely in terms of adaptation processes, at least as far as human cognition and behavior was concerned. This cost him his scientific reputation because science is run by elites who keep ancient knowledge to themselves. Darwin was less specific in theorizing why he also acknowledged man didn’t fit the model like the other animals. Humanity got upgraded, yet when genius scientists like Wallace speak the truth they are rendered invisible by the media, and blackballed by academics, a wholly corporate subsidized enterprise. Today, we have Stanford scientists perpetrating the notion that homosexuality is natural because more than 400 species practice part-time homosexuality. Similar to supporters of dogma, they cannot answer why incest or zoophilia is not natural. In the meantime, the likes of Richard Dawkins freely talk about pedophilia being natural while others

5

This Benthamite philosophy—being devoid of God as found in any of the great religions—proposes that something is ‘good’ when it maximizes pleasure and minimizes ‘pain’. We see below that without a dictator of absolute standards, we can develop any theory of morality we believe to be true, without actually being able to conform whether or not it is true. Unlike what is the case in Hinduism, Islam, and Greek Stoic philosophy, when one cannot pinpoint what God believes to be natural and good for humanity, any number of people can claim to have the absolute truth.

Psychological Grounding 225 talk about incest being natural (Kutner, 2015). The purpose of this article is not necessarily to denounce any of the presented beliefs, but to point out the logical mess humankind has gotten into in both social and natural sciences once scholars divorce their study from the purpose of creation, providing some sort of grounding of morality and consciousness. The ‘enlightenment’ phase of European history made the entire process of fulfilling the purpose of life travel further down this very degradation route. The original purpose was perverted by the Roman Catholic Church to be ‘salvation through Jesus’ – a dogma the post-‘Enlightenment’ replaced with notions of inalienable natural rights and the potentialities of reason, and universal ideals of love and compassion gave way to civic notions of freedom, equality, and citizenship. There, the definition of ‘natural’ and ‘universal’ remained arbitrary, devoid of any reasoning of logical thought: even if some universal ideas of rights and justice could be discerned, there was a lack of justification as to why they should be accepted. This leads to the human mind being unable to realize which part of a theory can be considered ‘moral’, and what is not considered ‘moral’. Being unable to tell the difference between what is logically moral and immoral lead to the notions of ‘freedom, equality, and citizenship’ to merely be assumptions of righteousness. These assertions then became dogmatic and unjustified. This has led to our modern era, which we can characterize as a rollercoaster ride of the spiraling down of all values through a successive degradation through ever more lunatic dogmas and false premises listed below, each of which are equally unjustified. If you recall, they are unjustified on two grounds: a) the fact that they are assumptions used to channel observed phenomena, and not objective conclusions; and b) the fact that they are disconnected from a fundamental root of the purpose of creation—which can provide as a moral grounding. 1. Classical liberalism: Regarded humans as beings with inalienable natural rights (including the right to retain the wealth generated by one’s own work), and sought out means to balance rights across society. Broadly speaking, it considers individual liberty to be the most important goal, because only through ensured liberty are the other inherent rights protected. 2. Kantianism: All actions are performed in accordance with some underlying maxim or principle, and for actions to be ethical, they must adhere to the categorical imperative. Kant denied that the consequences of an act in any way contributed to the moral worth of that act, his reasoning being that

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering the physical world is outside one’s full control and thus one cannot be held accountable for the events that occur in it. 3. Utilitarianism :“Nature” has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, ‘pain’ and ‘pleasure’, then, from that moral insight, deriving the Rule of Utility: “that the good is whatever brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people”. 4. Nihilism: Life is without objective meaning. A natural result of the idea that God is dead, and insisting it was something to overcome. This is fighting the God that is now ‘dead’. 5. Pragmatism: Truth is whatever works, and “only in struggling with the environment” do data, and derived theories, have meaning, and that consequences, like utility and practicality, are also components of truth. Purpose of life is discoverable only via experience. 6. Theism: God created the universe and God and humans find their meaning and purpose for life in God’s purpose in creating. 7. Existentialism: Each man and each woman creates the essence (meaning and purpose) of his or her life; life is not determined by a supernatural god or an earthly authority, one is free. 8. Absurdism: The Absurd arises out of the fundamental disharmony between the individual’s search for meaning and the apparent meaninglessness of the universe. As beings looking for meaning in a meaningless world, humans have three ways of resolving the dilemma: 1) Suicide; 2) “Religious” belief ; and 3) Acceptance of the Absurd. 9. Secular humanism: The human species came to be by reproducing successive generations in a progression of unguided evolution as an integral expression of nature, which is selfexisting. People determine human purpose without supernatural influence; it is the human personality (general sense) that is the purpose of a human being’s life. 10. Logical positivism: The question: what is the meaning of life? is itself meaningless 11. Postmodernism: Seeks meaning by looking at the underlying structures that create or impose meaning, rather than the epiphenomenal appearances of the world. 12. Naturalistic pantheism: The meaning of life is to care for and look after nature and the environment.

Psychological Grounding 227 Benjamin Franklin famously claimed: “We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” Margaret Thatcher famously stated, “there is no alternative” in reference to having no alternate to market economy, and eventual ‘globalized capitalism’. Zatzman and Islam (2007) popularized the notion as TINA syndrome that obfuscates a conscientious process to move forward. This is also akin to American actress, Kathleen Turner’s statement: “If I am in a room alone and a man enters the room but doesn’t stare at me, he must be gay”. We’ll seein Chapter 7, as both as a person and society, we have resorted to seeking solace in our beliefs that are nothing but are cycled version of dogma. Overall, decline of human values can be summarized in the following transition. fallen sinner with original sin in need of salvation Creator’s viceroy inherently selfish and stupid (as part of the animal kingdom) inherently selfish but intelligent self-sustained and capable of controlling his surrounding to maximize pleasure and minimize pain

4.7 Looking at the Big Picture Sir Winston Churchill famously said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” Yet, there is a great deal of romanticism surrounding democracy and democratic values and many people remain optimistic even though they are not quite sure what is the source of that optimism. Others resort to optimism just because pessimism is too depressing an idea, thus oscillating between dangerously risky optimism and depressive pessimism (Hecht, 2013). This mindset governs the entire political environment today. The East has a different take on politics and reality. Al-Ghazali (1106-1107) quoted Ali Ibn Abu Talib [Fourth Caliph of Islam] as saying, “Do not know the truth by men, but rather, know the truth and you will know its adherents.” This premise dictates that we know the essence before we decide on veracity of a given philosophy (Al-Ghazali and McCarchy, 1999). This section investigates how two philosophical giants of the Enlightenment era compare with a medieval (also known as the Islamic golden age) one in defining the essence of politics that govern our civilization. Abd ar-Rahmān Ibn Muhammad Ibn Khaldun, popularly known as Ibn Khaldun, is considered to be one of the greatest empirical social scientists of history. Some Western scholars consider him to be the founder of the field of sociology, specializing in modern empirical methods of deduction (Hasan, 2006; Gates, 1967). Ibn Khaldun is credited to have pre-empted many Enlightenment and Renaissance thinkers. His major work is the

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Muqaddimah (1377), or ‘Prolegomena’, which clearly lived up to its name, recognized as a prolegomena to political science, ranging from world history to social Darwinism (Baali, 1988). This chapter sheds light on the fundamental philosophical differences in various political models. Ibn Khaldun’s political theory is contrasted with those of Hobbes and Locke, based on their works titled The Leviathan (1651) and the Two Treatises of Government (1689), respectively. This chapter will analyze the premises of the three scholars regarding the principles upon which they build their foundational political theories, and then discuss the issue of the applicability of these premises in the real world. The immediate implication of this chapter is in introducing a new paradigm into political thought in view of the current status of world politics. It is a potent demonstration of how Islamic political thought plays out in relation to that of the West, providing further understanding as to why and how policies (like foreign policy) are governed by Islamic principles.

4.7.1 The Fundamental Premises of Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun is most known as an empiricist, having based his theories around hard facts (Goodman, 1972). However, similar to his predecessors, such as Averröes (1126-1198), who is recognized as the ‘father of secular philosophy in Europe’ (Islam et al., 2013), Ibn Khaldun’s first premise was the Islamic declaration of faith, “There is no deity but God, and Muhammad is His Messenger,” being a devout Muslim (Rabi, 1967). This premise founded Ibn Khaldun’s government model, assuming that the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, is the “lawgiver” (The Muqaddimah, p. 7) and, therefore, the Islamic Caliphate he founded was the model form of government (Islam et al., 2013). We see the impact of this fundamental premise when in Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldun talks about human civilization, Bedouin civilization and tribal codes, the effect of climate and physical environment on the behavior and formation of people, psychological factors influencing the behavior of people (the famous ‘Asabiyyah6 theory), the formation and destruction and maintenance of royal ‘dynasties’, economics, etc. Logical explanation of each of these events could be found through deductive reasoning starting from the first premise. For Ibn Khaldun, the notion of Justice, be in a ‘Just society’ or ‘Just war’, was embedded in the first premise that takes Allah (Creator) as the ultimate Justice and His messenger, Muhammad, as the lawgiver that assured justice. Asabiyyah refers to the concept of what we may call group consciousness and solidarity.

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Psychological Grounding 229 There are some scholars that believe Ibn Khaldun’s premises were strictly secular. While this may be true for Christianity that shunned science, this does not apply to Islam whose holy book has the word ‘science’ (ilm in Arabic) as the second most frequently used word (Islam et al., 2015). Rabi (1967) points out how misinterpretation, along with prejudicial “modernization” of Ibn Khaldun’s terms and concepts led several European authors to go the extreme of equating Asabiyyah with nationalism. Such criticism was pre-empted by Gibb (1935). In Gibb’s words, such mischaracterization “arises from a misapprehension of his [Ibn Khaldun’s] outlook, especially in its relation to religious questions” (Gibb, 1962). Gibb had his own share of misinterpretation and prejudices, but in the matter of his analysis of political power and divine rule, there was no ambiguity. In fact, according to Gibb, “it is impossible to avoid the impression that Ibn Khaldun, besides setting out to analyze the evolution of the State, was, like the other Muslim jurists of his time, concerned with the problem of reconciling the ideal demands of the Shari’ah (God’s prescribed pathway) with the facts of history. The careful reader will note how he drives home the lesson, over and over again, that the course of history is what it is because of the infraction of the Shari’ah by the sin of pride, the sin of luxury, the sin of greed. Even in economic life it is only when the ordinances of the Shari’ah are observed that prosperity follows” (Gibb, 1962). Gibb points out the belief of Ibn Khaldun as to what will occur in absence of Shari’ah: “it is condemned to an empty and unending cycle of rise and fall, conditioned by the ‘natural’ and inevitable consequences of the predominance of its animal instincts. In this sense Ibn Khaldun may be a ‘pessimist’ or ‘ determinist’, but his pessimism has a moral and religious, not a sociological basis”. Note that this division between the moral and sociological category does not conform to Islamic cognition that draws no distinction between morality and science (Islam, 2016). Islam et al., (2013) summarized Ibn Khaldun’s philosophy, “Ibn Khaldun got his inspiration from the Qur’an that defines humans as the Viceroy (khalifah) of the Creator (e.g., 2:30 of the Qur’an specifies man’s role as the viceroy), charged with law and order on Earth that seems to be abandoned not withstanding the grand plan of the Creator in the form of universal order. This outlook is clearly different to the Eurocentric notions, ranging from the vastly discredited ‘original sin’ to widely accepted ‘evolution’ theories that detach human conscience from its functioning in a society” (Gibb, 1962). From the above fundamental premise of Ibn Khaldun emerges the role of Caliphate as the model or ideal community that in his word rules by shari’ah, the divine set of laws that is deduced from the Qur’an and hadith. The Caliphate system of government is the standard and ‘right’ system

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of government, and all empirical findings and data interpreted are tallied against an external standard. An “external standard” means that the standards by which a theory is built upon is insulated from the belief of a person that often sets an internal standard. The lack of such a standard can lead to a spurious cognition pattern (Goldman, 1986), criticized as ‘deliberate schizophrenia’ in our previous volumes on the topic (Islam et al., 2015; 2016). The external standard grounds empirical findings and becomes the impetus for single-solution outcomes. The presence of such an external standard will prove to be the key determinant in creating bifurcation of Ibn Khaldun’s model from Locke’s or Hobbes’ models. In absence of this standard, his theory explained the rise and fall of empires. For Locke, Hobbes, etc., the standard is subjective or subject to change.7 This recognition of an objective and external standard for policy matter is just as important in personal matters. We have seen in the previous chapter that such a standard will set directions and define what constitutes success or failure in a person’s life. It is important to note here that invocation of God doesn’t move us in the positive direction unless that entity is real one. Without starting off with a ‘my god is better than your god’ banter, it is to be accepted, the real creator God is the one that can be both necessary and sufficient conditions for proper grounding of a human, no other god can be elevated to that status, no matter how faithful a person is. What we have seen in the truth criterion section, faith or perception has nothing to do with reality, and truth must be external to perception of people.

4.7.2 The Premises of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke Thomas Hobbes and John Locke represent the two extreme sides of European modern philosophy. Hobbes invokes no God but Locke does, yet neither of them come anywhere close to Ibn Khaldun’s model of social science. Islam’s (2016) recent analysis reveals that both Hobbes and Locke invoked themselves as the law giver, making up standards that are equally illogical as dogma. They make no contribution to advancement of human behavior or psychological grounding of a person or a society. In this section, we analyze the fundamental premises of Locke and Hobbes. Hobbes believed that people are naturally prone to competition, including violent competition, fighting out of fear, and seeking out reputation. The Leviathan, after eloquently describing these qualities of men, summarizes:

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It’s similar to latest version of the Oxford Dictionary vs the Qu’ran as standards of languages (English and Arabic, respectively).

Psychological Grounding 231 So that in the nature of man, we find three principal causes of quarrel. First, competition; secondly, diffidence; thirdly, glory,” and that people therefore use violence to “to make themselves masters of other men’s persons, wives, children, and cattle; the second, to defend them; the third, for trifles.

The logic is that because some have these qualities at times, people are in a constant state of war, and that as a result there is “continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” (p. 78). This occurs as long as there is no authority or “sovereign” to govern them (Sorrel, 1996). Therefore, there is a need for people to get together and create a non-revocable covenant to create a sovereign (person or office) that takes all the rights of the people with the exception of self-preservation, in order to establish peace and order. Here lies the fundamental premise of Hobbes that pertains to how to derive a ‘standard.’ In search of such a standard, Hobbes invoked the possibility of having a process that can select a sovereign based on consensus. By ceding power to the sovereign, the general public is no longer a party to the process of creating and enforcing laws. This means that the standard or grounding starts from the self (internal standard) to create an arbitrary external standard. Locke, on the other hand, had a different perception of how government should be set up and operated, as well as how the standards would be enforced by the government. Locke being considered the ‘father of classical liberalism’, it is safe to assume that he was in favor of creating government by consent (Moseley, 2005). In terms of creating a political standard, Locke’s notion of universal natural law contrasts sharply with that of Hobbes, for whom the laws have the single purpose of the creation of the sovereign. Also, Locke believed that sovereignty is in the people, in contrast to Hobbes who believed sovereignty belonged to the Sovereign. Locke believed that ‘god’8 endowed man with natural laws that govern people in a state of nature (Forde, 2011). From this, our fundamental rights are derived from the premise, “no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions; for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent and infinitely wise Maker” (Locke, 2014), which we have a right to defend and punish transgressions. When people get together and set up government by their consent, the government is to provide these rights to the people and enforce the law for the “common good” (Locke, 2014).

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John Locke is considered by many to be a deist with belief that god created nature with inherent natural laws.

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Consequently, the limit to Locke’s government is that the people have the right to revolt against the government and change their legislators when they act against the purposes for which they were elected. From these thoughts, we may derive two premises upon which theories of government and governance are based: a) the sovereignty lies in the people, and b) nature dictates what is right and wrong, while government serves the purpose of ensuring these rights and being the common authority that enforces these rights (Moseley, 2005).

4.7.3 Comparing Standards When it comes to Ibn Khaldun’s political grounding (standards), there is observed logical consistency, based on the logically (deductively) connected major premise (there is a unique deity, God) and minor premise (Muhammad is His messenger), and the model government, Caliphate, formed by the prophet, the ‘law-giver’. This is tied to the notion that the purpose of humans is to be the viceroy of the creator, charged with law and order, and being accountable for only their intention. Therefore, the source of all rights is the creator, who explicitly delegated limited rights to His designated Caliphs, selected by the most righteous humans as per the standard of the Qur’an and the Hadith (Islam et al., 2013). The purpose of the Caliph and the system is to be “a substitute for the lawgiver (Muhammad) inasmuch as it serves, like him, to protect the religion9 and to exercise leadership over the world” (Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah). It is derived then that according to Ibn Khaldun, the ultimate source of law and power is God; political power comes from ‘religion’ of God.10 Although outwardly similar to Ibn Khaldun’s, Locke’s model poses a problem, as Grant (2010) put it, when “the people consent to a form of government or to a government action that does not protect the lives, liberties, and property of the subjects”, as “without a clear articulation for the relation between claims based on the origin of power, consent, and claims based on its ends, protection of life, liberty, and property, we cannot identify legitimate authority”. Similarly, Kendall opines on the issue of majority sovereignty:

9

The Arabic word ‘dīn’ stands for natural traits and not a set of doctrine as in organized religions. 10 Ibn Khaldun believed that the aspect distinguishing the Caliphate from Christian and Jewish authoritative figures is that for the latter two, there is a division of religion and politics (as the goal of those religions was to establish religion amongst themselves only and not politically across the world) (The Muqaddimah p. 183).

Psychological Grounding 233 [T]he inalienable rights of the individual prove to be merely those which the majority of the people have not yet seen fit to withdraw. The ‘proper interest’ of each individual lies in obedience to a law decreed by a legislative which, as we have seen, is presumed to enjoy the confidence of the community; but since the majority can act for the community, and can thus exercise the community’s right of revolution and its right to replace the old government with a new one to its liking, the proper interest of the individual becomes merely unquestioning obedience to the will of the majority… (Kendall, 1940)

This inability to derive a standard for law—a criterion to differentiate between right and wrong—is a problem that has significant practical concerns, as will be detailed in the following section. Locke’s model gives rise to two logical paradoxes. The first is in regard to natural law; there is a discontinuation between God’s intended natural law, and Locke being the definer of natural rights. In other words, there is no logical connector of Locke to God (or to nature), no connection to make him the rightful interpreter of the “infinitely wise maker”. As a consequence, Locke gives no elaboration of what may be considered moral and immoral (Sheridan, 2014). The second paradox is the problem identified by Grant earlier that lies within identifying the ultimate authority of law (the sovereign) as the people, and acknowledging a natural law that is above everything else. We see that the exact criteria by which natural ends and popular sovereignty begins is ambiguous, to say the least. What is perhaps even more interesting is that the same central argument Locke used against Robert Filmer (1588-1653) applies to Locke himself. Filmer argued in his major work, Patriarcha (1680) that God gave Adam sovereignty over the earth (the divine right to rule), and that this right is delegated from Adam to his descendants, thereby creating a divinely backed ‘absolute’ monarchy, similar to how natural rightful paternal authority works. Locke deconstructs this biblical justification in his First Treatise of Government, identifying the disconnect of the pattern of authority moving from God to Adam, and to his descendants. A representative example of an argument could be him stating that the Bible did not really specify that Adam was given the right to rule over people, but rather, over “the fish and the fowl”. Locke’s own argument follows discontinuity of equal rigor. Hobbes’ model entails the formation of only one type of government, a tyrannical and authoritarian one (to say the least).11 Once set up, the 11 Whether or not the government Hobbes envisioned was meant to be tyrannical and/or totalitarian is debated. Nevertheless, the fact remains that power is vested in (favorably) one individual.

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rights (with an exception of self-preservation) of individuals are given up to the sovereign that becomes the legal standard. There are two main problems that we encounter in Hobbes’ theory regarding its logical continuum. The third of Hobbes’ 19 laws of nature state that people ‘ought to set up a sovereign (Bobbio, 1993), which leads to groups of people choosing their own sovereigns, each sovereign creating its own standards of law. This implies that; a) there may logically be several different legal standards for one human race, and; b) the sovereign itself is able to exercise tyrannical power, to oppress and suppress the people who set him up. An extraordinary amount of optimism is put into the notion of the sovereign not abusing his power (Wolfenden, 2014), which may eventually lead to internal chaos, and; c) even if the sovereigns of the world are all righteous, there is nothing stopping endless warfare between states,12 posing obvious problems that Hobbes himself would seem averse to (as the purpose of the state is to create peace and order). Note that this dichotomy arises from the assumption that the only two options for humanity is to either descend into a constant state of war, or to have a sovereign dictate everything to the people. If this assumption is false, there is absolutely no basis for the rest of Hobbes’ theory. In stark contrast, Ibn Khaldun’s model starts off with a global standard that not only provides a domestic solution, but a global one as well. As Figure 4.4. depicts, Hobbes’ theory can be seen as a ‘last-ditch’ attempt to solving the problem of forming a government in the absence of global standards. Therefore, people are disconnected from their purpose, creating a moral dilemma (Islam et al., 2013) and logical fallacies. For example, different people, even proximal neighbors, can have radically different notions of “right” and “wrong” imposed upon them, leading to what constitutes “right reason,” according to Hobbes. Figure 4.4 depicts the direction of ‘legal derivation’, the process by which law is discerned, for each of the theorists’ models. Ibn Khaldun’s model is straightforward in the direction of legal derivation with a standard. Hobbes’ model is also straightforward and similar to that of Ibn Khaldun’s, but in the opposite direction (legal derivation without a global standard), because the standard (the sovereign) is created by individuals and then the sovereign itself. Note that this standard does not apply globally, or even nationally; in fact, even the smallest of communities can create their own standards. Conversely, this model takes us into the direction of the opposite of the goal of a global order, into an order that fosters chaos. Hobbes’

12 Hobbes is seen by many to be the “representative example of a ‘realist’ in international relations” (Lloyd and Sreedhar, 2014), meaning by realist that states are in a state of nature.

Psychological Grounding 235 Progressive of civilization Ibn khaldun’s model

John locke’s model

Thomas hobbes model

Legal derivation with global standard

Legal derivation without global standard

Figure 4.4 Depicts the legal derivation directions of the three theorists’ model government models.

derivation is much more rapid and starts earlier than Ibn Khaldun’s (and Locke’s), as the so-called laws of nature he speaks about are merely a justification to create an all-powerful sovereign (as rule #3 states). As the graph depicts, Hobbes’ model swerves in the direction of legal derivation relatively earlier in time, because the purpose of his natural law is to create government as fast as possible. Locke’s model starts off in the direction of Ibn Khaldun’s, when discussing a universal natural law and possibly a future vision for mankind, but cuts off and goes into the direction of chaos. This is inevitable when there is no defined logical criterion to determine if an action is “moral”, “just”, or “ethical”. This progression is similar to what Ibn Khaldun termed as deliberate departure from shari’ah, in which case humans behave like animals, meaning without purpose, and the society falls into chaos or anarchy. In essence, both Locke and Hobbes have only looked into the chaotic model (in the absence of adherence to shari’ah), albeit attempting to retrofit it as a standard model, leading to the absurdity of a Caliphate without shari’ah and humans without conscience. The above discussion regarding the relegation of authority is summarized in Table 4.5. As discussed, Ibn Khaldun started with believing in a major premise (God) and a minor premise (Muhammad is the prophet of God). The Qur’an, which was given by God, delegated political and religious authority to Muhammad, who himself explicitly allowed for the delegation of his authority after his death. Hence, the current Caliph, provided

People (or God?*)

God

John Locke

Robert Filmer

The political and ideological authority of the state comes from the sovereign, the people delegate authority to it; however, the power no longer holds.

Undefined according to Locke and reason

Undefined

* Invocation of God by John Locke has no more meaning than invocation of people by Hobbes.

Thomas Hobbes People

Allah (God)

Ibn Khaldun

Where authority currently lies

The authority would then lie in the sovereign, that is given the full right to create and enforce law.

Kings or ‘princes’

The authority of who decides what is natural law and natural rights, the rightful structure-r of government and delegator of authority (to the people) is Locke himself.

The Qur’an, considered the direct word of The authority then lies with the selected God, delegates authority to his prophet, Caliph, however the ultimate authority Muhammad. He, directly delegated/ that the caliph (and people) are required allowed for the transference of authority to rule by is by God’s law as identified in from the Prophet to the Caliph who is the Qur’an and Hadith. chosen from the most righteous (as Ibn Khaldun explained earlier)

Origin of authority Transferring of authority

Theorist

Table 4.5 Comparison of the fundamental premises of various political models regarding the transfer of power.

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Psychological Grounding 237 that he abides by God’s law, is given power. John Locke believed that the law of nature is naturally manifest in nature (created by God). This natural law, through the authority of Locke himself, delegates power to the people, being the new sovereign. Government under the people has the purpose of creating and enforcing laws with the consent of the people. Robert Filmer believed that God is the source of all authority and sovereignty, and that the power was delegated to Adam and therefore to the ‘kings’ who are descendants of Adam. Locke uses the same argument, identifying Filmer’s political authority discontinuation that, in fact, applies to himself. Hobbes believed that people are all fundamentally equal, and their individual powers and rights are delegated to a sovereign given the right to do anything to maintain peace and order, with the exception of unlawful killing. It should be noted that Hobbes creates paradoxes for himself as well, as discussed above. As we discussed in previous sections, Ibn Khaldun’s model is the Caliphate. It’s important to know that historically, the caliphate lasted for 30 years,13 ruled by the Khilafat al-Rashidun (rightly guided caliphs). Ibn Khaldun saw the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties following the rightly guided Caliphate as absolute monarchies (Scott, P., and W. T. Cavanaugh, 2008), which, according to Okene and Ahmad (2011), Ibn Khaldun himself was “repulsed” by14 Maddy-Weitzman notes how Ahmed Yessine observed that Ibn Khaldun saw the rise and fall of Muslim dynasties generally (as many existed) to be a part of the cyclical version of history (MaddyWeitzman, 2003). Indeed, this ‘Shari’ah-free’ state is the state of nature notion portrayed by international relations realists. Ibn Khaldun agreed with the explanation of Abu al-Hasan al-Mas’udi (896–956) discussing the decline of the Umayyads, in that many of the ‘Caliphs’ were more concerned about their worldly pleasures and ruled with tyranny and blindness, and power was “passed to their wasteful descendants who were only concerned with the gratification of their desires and with sinful pleasures” and so on, which is how the “caliphate is transformed into royal authority”.15 One can see that Ibn Khaldun’s model of the Caliphate is the original caliphate, the one that was ruled by the “most righteous” and not monarchial heirs. Ibn Khaldun’s model, unlike Hobbes’, already existed, providing a continuum for jurisdiction from God to the Caliphs through Muhammad (Islam et al., 2013). 13 Starting from the death of the prophet Muhammad (632) to the death of the fourth caliph, Ali (661). 14 “Repulsed” by the rising and declining of monarchies and the moral corruption that comes with it. 15 Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah, 275-276.

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Ibn Khaldun’s first claim of the Caliphate is that it would provide security and order and prevent corruption and injustice (D’Agostino and Jarvie, 2012).16 This model was personified by the life and work of Prophet Muhammad, whose influence catapulted 1,000 years of an unparalleled boost in knowledge. The book that he claimed was a divine revelation had the word ‘science’ (ilm in Arabic) “cited over 700 times (second most used word only second to the word ‘Allah’) and has no dogma” (Islam et al., 2013). It lays out the foundation of a society based on conscious and conscientious participation of every individual. With the Qur’an as the starting point, it adds an axis that is the practice of Prophet Muhammad, then asks its followers to time scale (qiyas in Arabic) that scenario to the époque of interest and treat worldly belonging (including time) as a trust and defines human role as the ‘viceroy of the creator’ (Islam et al., 2013). The model of Hobbes is intellectually intriguing, as it is essentially the opposite of Ibn Khaldun’s, as morals and laws are created by groups’ individual sovereigns or ‘mortal gods’. It is important to note that Hobbes’ model was not a historical one, at least in its fullest sense, as there is no documented civilization in the state of nature where people together created a covenant to have an unconditional sovereign that would be the absolute ruler and source of law. Because of this contradiction, all we can do is to create hypothetical scenarios and analyze absolutist governments to get an idea. There are many fundamental practical problems to Hobbes’ approach. Firstly, the fact that humans are only given a choice between the state of nature or an absolutist government is simply empirically incorrect, as people can create stable, limited governments to enforce our fundamental right to self-preservation without an absolutist regime.17

4.8 The Truth Criterion We have determined already that truth cannot be a function of time (Islam et al., 2016a), nor can it be subjective (Islam et al., 2015). The case in point is Joan of Arc (Picture 4.2). The fact that a person was determined by a system as once a heretic and then a saint simply means the system is inherently

16

By injustice, we are talking about the typical lawless oppression, over-taxation, and things that we can universally see as “bad”. 17 Note that Hobbes does distinguish between good and bad laws, good being necessary for the people and the power of the sovereign, and not to “bind voluntary actions”: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (Hamilton: McMaster University), 213-214. However, the fact that bad laws are possible to create and not considered unjust, paves the road for an absolutist state.

Psychological Grounding 239

Picture 4.2 Joan of Arc never recanted her claim and had to wait 500 years for redemption.

corrupt. Today, some 600 years later, we haven’t made much progress about defining what is true and what is false, but we have certainly added a lot of arrogance to our mindset. On 30th May, 1431, the 19-year-old Joan of Arc was burned at the stake for heresy by an English-dominated tribunal. Before her death, a guard of English soldiers, who laughed at her as she made her frantic, last-minute prayers, surrounded the weeping Joan. One

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English soldier took pity on the girl and handed her a hastily made wooden cross moments before she was tied to the stake. She kissed it and put it into her bosom. During her burning, a Dominican friar consoled her by holding up a crucifix for her to gaze upon as she died. Even as she was burned, Joan did not recant. To the end, she continued to claim that the voices she had heard all her life were divine in nature. In later years, the executioner claimed that Joan’s heart resisted the flames, and had been found intact among the ashes. Even in death, Joan continued to maintain a powerful hold over people’s imaginations. In 1450, Charles VII went to Rouen and demanded an investigation into Joan’s execution. Later, Pope Calixtus III annulled Cauchon’s 1431 verdict declaring Joan a heretic, and on May 16, 1920, Pope Benedict XV made Joan of Arc a saint. In June of that year, the French Parliament declared a national holiday in Joan’s honor. At the core of this discussion of the purpose of life, humanity, values, and deconstruction of first premises, is the notion of truth: how can we know the difference between truth and falsehood? This question is especially important in knowing how and why something can be moral or immoral. In 2006, the lead author posed the question “What is true?” with the aim of uncovering and specifying the various ways of distinguishing truth from falsehood. After six months of research, the following criteria for truth were developed. This logic was used to define natural cognition or natural material or natural energy as follows: a. there must be a true basis or source; b. the truth itself must remain non-refuted continuously over time (it must be absolute); and c. any break in its continuity or a similar exception must be supported by a true criterion or bifurcation point. The third-mentioned item in the above list sets scientific cognition apart from doctrinal or dogmatic cognition; namely, that logical discontinuities and observations in phenomena must and can be supported by other truths. Notwithstanding the longstanding general acceptance of the distinction that Thomas Aquinas is the father of doctrinal philosophy and Averröes (Ahmed, 2008). (Ibn Rushd) the father of secular philosophy, our research uncovers the fact that, regardless of the claim to be operating on an entirely secular basis utterly disconnected from ‘religious bias’ of any kind, all aspects of scientific developments in modern Europe have been based on doctrinal philosophy. If the assumption that modern New science

Psychological Grounding 241 is based on non-dogmatic logic is set aside, it becomes clear that, precisely because so many of its original premises are unreal/unprovable, unnatural or non-existent, modern science is full of paradoxes and contradictions. In other words, the degradation of science and political philosophy from Roman Catholic times to the modern day is solely due to the use of dogma-based philosophy in which philosophical traditions are discussed and accepted prior to accepting the foundations (the premise) of that philosophy to be true. Unless there is an absolute truth one derives cognition from, it is impossible to have ethical grounding in any subject matter, including the natural sciences. On the topic of humanity, based on the down-spiraling history of political philosophy, the disconnection of the human conscience and human morality—humanity—occurred historically when people disconnected the purpose of their creation (or belief of their purpose) from their actions. Our research shows truth and falsehood had no illusion in ancient oriental culture (Islam et al., 2010, 2012, 2014). Such was the case in ancient Greek civilization as well. From what is gathered from ancient Greek civilization, the general consensus was that absolute truth cannot be fleeting. This is in line with the oriental concept that ‘truth unravels itself ’ (Chhetri and Islam, 2008). Every civilization recounted in history other than postRoman Catholic Church’s Eurocentric era had a clear vision of what constitutes the truth. Plato understood it as synonymous with the real that doesn’t change with time (the physical world being fleeting or a function of time is not ‘real’). Aristotle understood it as what really ‘is’. It was all fine until Thomas Aquinas. He had access to Avicenna and Averröes, as well as Aristotle (through Muslim scholars’ translation). He wrote: A natural thing, being placed between two intellects, is called true insofar as it conforms to either. It is said to be true with respect to its conformity with the divine intellect insofar as it fulfills the end to which it was ordained by the divine intellect... With respect to its conformity with a human intellect, a thing is said to be true insofar as it is such as to cause a true estimate about itself. All of a sudden truth became subject to human intellect. Today, Thomas Aquinas is recognized as the father of doctrinal philosophy, while new science that claims to be strictly secular has adopted Aquinas’ philosophy in the core of all cognition (Islam and Khan, 2016). New science didn’t stop at Aquinas, it led away a path to the following degradation of the definition of truth.

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering 1. Correspondence theory (stresses a relationship between thoughts or statements on one hand, and things or objects on the other). 2. Coherence theory (truth is primarily a property of whole systems of propositions, and can be ascribed to individual propositions only according to their coherence with the whole, i.e., Authority). 3. Constructivist theory (truth is constructed by social processes, is historically and culturally specific, and that it is in part shaped through the power struggles within a community.) 4. Consensus theory (truth is whatever is agreed upon, or in some versions, might come to be agreed upon, by some specified group. Such a group might include all human beings, or a subset thereof consisting of more than one person.) 5. Pragmatic theory (truth is verified and confirmed by the results of putting one’s concepts into practice.) 6. Minimalist theories (truth does not denote a real property of sentences or propositions.) 7. Redundancy and related theories (truth is a redundant concept; that is, it is merely a word that is traditionally used in conversation or writing, generally for emphasis, but not a word that actually equates to anything in reality.) 8. Pluralist theories (there is a particular property the having of which makes a belief or proposition true. Pluralist theories of truth assert that there may be more than one property that makes propositions true: ethical propositions might be true by virtue of coherence. Propositions about the physical world might be true by corresponding to the objects and properties they are about.)

In summary, what we have is a comical assembly of research questions ranging from Harvard College’s “How many angels can dance on a pin head?” to the 18th-century classic, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” that has created a world, where systematic falsehood has become the truth and truth has become the ‘conspiracy theory’. We have graduated from Dogma and trinity only to fall for multiple history of the same physical point, in name quantum theory. Figure 4.5 shows the importance of the first premise. The solid circles represent phenomenal first premise, whereas the hollow circles represent aphenomenal first premise. The thicker solid lines represent scientific steps

Psychological Grounding 243

Knowledge

Logical steps

Prejudice

Figure 4.5 The role of first premise in determining the pathways to knowledge and prejudice.

that would increase knowledge, bringing one closer to the truth. At every phenomenal node, there will be spurious suggestions that would emerge from aphenomenal root (e.g., bad faith, false assumptions) as represented by dashed thick lines. However, if the first premise is phenomenal, no node will appear ahead of the spurious suggestions. Every logical step will increase knowledge, following the true path of science. The thinner solid lines represent choices that emerge from aphenomenal first premise. At every aphenomenal node, there will be aphenomenal solutions; however. each will lead to further corruption of the logical process, radically increasing prejudice. This process can be characterized as disinformation – the antithesis of science (as a process). At every aphenomenal node, anytime a phenomenal solution is proposed, it is deemed spurious because it opposes the first premise of the disinformation mode. Consequently, these solutions are rejected. This is the inherent conflict between good faith and bad faith starting points. In the disinformation mode, phenomenal plans have no future prospect, as shown by the absence of a node. One important feature of the disinformation mode is, as logical steps are progressed, the true nature of the first premise becomes unraveled, requiring one to invent further disinformation to justify the logical conflicts. In this mode, more logical steps are taken, further away one becomes from the truth, consolidating

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prejudices that only serve to justify aphenomenal conclusions that support the original bad-faith judgment. Figure 4.6 shows how the failure to adhere to truth criteria will increase ignorance. Figure 4.6 is crucial in demonstrating the need for having a phenomenal first premise, followed by solutions of governing equations without linearization. It turns out all theories in modern science start off with a false premise. In addition, all phenomenological models (e.g., Darcy’s law), while acceptable, are susceptible to the same set of errors if solved after linearization. Note that the knowledge graph (attributed to Averröes or Ibn Rushd) is a monotonic graph with an increasingly greater slope with time. Such a shape arises from the fact that once known, the knowledge of facts cannot be unlearned. This is contrary to the ignorance graph that constantly fluctuates due to the fact that even with a false first premise, it tries to weave through conclusions that at times are closer to the truth. In terms of natural cognition, if the first premise is false and/or if the intention is anything other than the long-term good of a person, in line with his role as a viceroy of the creator, follow-up cognition will not be representative of facts or reality, while creating the illusion that knowledge about these facts have been captured, thus increasing ignorance and false confidence. Note how there is little difference between a true-source starting point and a false-source starting point. In fact, these two departure points are difficult to discern. The whole argument of pragmatism has been revolving around “what difference does it make for the outcome?” A knowledge-based approach must include rigid criteria irrespective of what the outcome is. It is possible that a aphenomenal (false) model predicts the same outcome as a knowledge model, but that doesn’t say anything about the scientific validity of the aphenomenal model. Knowledge

Averroes model

Time

Ignorance

Thomas aquinas model

Figure 4.6 If truth criteria are not met, time only increases ignorance and false confidence.

Psychological Grounding 245 In this chapter, we have demonstrated that the absence of a standard is linked to the absence of a confirmed communication from the creator as to the role humans must play. We show that role can be carried out only with a logical and universal standard against which every human action must be tallied. At the time of this writing, the authors did not know the kind of irony this part of the paper will create, but it turned out the world is at the cusp of witnessing American voters having to select between two of the most perceived untrustworthy candidates that have been nominated by the two principal parties of the United States.18 The fact that Donald Trump is being called ‘the emperor with no clothes’ and that the Clintons are the ones that advised Trump to run for the presidency in a contest that has no parallel in history19 in terms of lack of public trust, makes the paper both necessary and timely.

4.9 The Need for a Logical Standard Even though it is well known that results don’t justify the means, the current cognition models accept the Pragmatism model in one form or the other. A sound scientific process must be able to explain everything – without resorting to dogma. By contrast, the modern era teaches us how to accept dissenting opinions and agree to disagree. This pragmatic approach has helped scientists of all genres receive funding for whatever study they wish to conduct, but this has zero value in real science. Islam et al. (2014). showed that pragmatism leads to paradoxes. When such a paradoxical process is allowed in the fundamental paradigm, the entire process becomes aphenomenal.20 This scenario is devastating for the civilization. This scenario is controlled by the infamous ‘one-tenth of one-tenth of one percent’ that employ the 1% of the population as the executor of their scheme On August 3, 2016, the Washington Post reported a survey that Trump and Clinton are tied as least honest (according to 36% surveyed) and most non-trustworthy (according to 61% for Clinton and 62% for Trump) duo ever to run for the office of U.S. president. In September 2016, it was reported that the media hit a record low in terms of public trust. http://www.gallup.com/poll/195542/americans-trust-mass-media-sinks-new-low. aspx Whereas, a later survey shows that Trump administration, as poorly trusted as it is, still eclipses the trust for the media, which is seen at http://thehill.com/homenews/ media/318514-trump-admin-seen-as-more-truthful-than-news-media-poll 19 Frank Lavin, Reagan Republican: Trump is the emperor with no clothes, CNN, Aug. 7, 2016. 20 A term first coined by Zatzman and Islam, Economics of Intangibles, Nova Science Publishers, 2007, that means without any meaning because of fundamentally false first premise and/or the process involved. 18

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% share of global wealth 56 55 54 53 52 51 50 49 48 47 46 45 44

Richest 1%

Other 99%

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Figure 4.7 Past and future projection of shares of global wealth of the top 1% and bottom 99%.

and ends up amassing the wealth that can be best described as ‘obscene’ (Islam et al., 2015). Figure 4.7 summarizes the extreme nature of the world economy – the driver of today’s civilization. Oxfam21 reported that 388 billionaires had the same amount of money as the bottom 50% of the Earth’s population in 2010. The charity’s report also said that the richest 1 percent of the population will own more than half the world’s wealth by 2016. The number of people whose wealth is equal to that of the poorest half of the world’s population since 2010 has declined steadily (Figure 4.8). Using this policy device, the Establishment first corrupts humans. It involves denaturing of humans first. Moving from a fundamental premise that humans are inherently good, the artificial version of that model (as we have seen in Part 1) is introduced. This artificial version is constructed and promoted as the ideal version. In chemical engineering, an entire subject is dedicated to denaturing natural materials (Khan and Islam, 2016) prior to any processing. We have seen in Part 1, the Viceroy model considers all humans being born perfect, but the current civilization calls the artificial (called robotization of humans) version ‘ideal’ and calls the robotization process ‘progress’. At the end, humans are turned into robots that would serve the Establishment more faithfully than a prophet is supposed

21

Oxfam Press Release, https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2015-01-19/ richest-1-will-own-more-all-rest-2016

Psychological Grounding 247 No. of rich people whose weath iss greater than 50% poorest 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Figure 4.8 Impetus of global extremism.

to serve the creator. At the end, what we have is a preposterous perspective where real progress turns into backwardness and robotization into ‘progress’. Such a process of the deification of Money starts with the fundamentally flawed first premise. This premise was recently summed up by Tim O’Reilly (2016): “Here is one of the failed rules of today’s economy: humans are expendable. Their labor should be eliminated as a cost whenever possible. This will increase the profits of a business, and richly reward investors. These profits will trickle down to the rest of society.” The next target is water – the most ubiquitous matter, which is also the essence of life and vitality. This water is turned metaphorically into Coke – an agent that reverses the vitality of water into morbidity. A similar scheme continues with air, the most ubiquitous gas, to cigarette smoke and exhaust, and dirt, the most ubiquitous solid to nanomaterial, all to the benefit of their purse and the detriment of the environment and society at large. As an alternative to fossil fuel that produces CO2 – the essence of greenery – into ‘solar electricity’ that guzzles SiO2 toxins in exchange of CO2. What we have at the end is the following transition: Air → Cigarette smoke, toxic smoke Water → Coke Tomato → Ketchup Egg → Mayonnaise Milk → Commercial ice cream, cheese cake Corn, potato → Chips (trans fats!) Salad + oil → Coleslaw Human asset → Human liability

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On the “social sciences” side, the same drive to robotization for a profit is ubiquitous. Consider the following transitions: History, culture → Entertainment, belly dancing Smile → Laughter Love of children → Pedophilia Passion → Obsession Contentment → Gloating Quenching thirst → Bloating Feeding hunger → Gluttony Philosophy and True science → Religious Fundamentalism Science → “Technological development” Social progress → “Economic development” Having established that the currently used humanity model is hopeless, we must look into the most important requirement of a logical and universal standard. The most serious, most important, most significant, most truly acid test of such a standard is that it accounts for everything necessary and sufficient to explain the phenomenon — its origin, its path and its end-point — thereby rendering it positively useful to human society. In science, such a criterion was used by Khan (2006). He argued that the same criterion was used in previous civilizations to distinguish between real and artificial. This criterion uses the notion that a true criterion has to be continuous as time approaches infinity. This is equivalent to the truth criterion of Plato as well as Averröes that floated the notion that truth cannot be transient. This definition avoids scrutiny of the intangible source of individual action (namely, intention) as long as the time infinity condition is met. However, Zatzman et al., (2007) pointed out that the end-point at time t = infinity can be a criterion, but it will not disclose the pathway unless a continuous time function is introduced. Such continuity cannot be assured in absence of both major and minor premises to be true, as in being insensitive to time. It is important to note that this condition is exact and cannot be replaced with premises that are ‘approaching’ the truth. In this chapter, we will cite a number of examples from social science in order to demonstrate the need for a logical standard. Consider the following syllogism: All Americans speak French [major premise] President Francois Hollande is an American [minor premise] Therefore, President Hollande speaks French [conclusion-deduction] If, in either the major or minor premise, the information relayed above is derived from a scenario of what is merely probable (as distinct from

Psychological Grounding 249 what is actually known), the conclusion, which happens to be correct (on its face) in this particular case, would be not only acceptable as something independently knowable, but reinforced as something also statistically likely. This, then finesses determining the truth or falsehood of any of the premises, and, eventually, someone is bound to “reason backwards” to deduce the statistical likelihood of the premises from the conclusion! Indeed, this latter version, in which eventually all the premises are falsified as a result of starting out with a false assumption asserted as a conclusion, is exactly what has been identified and labeled elsewhere as the aphenomenal model. This model cannot be rectified unless one replaces both major and minor premises with something that is true. This truth, eventually, has to go back to absolute truth – something that cannot be verified through tangible experience. Consider another syllogism (the concept of “virtue” intended here is “that which holds positive universally at all times”, not just for some individual or arbitrary subset of individual members of humanity or for a certain time interval): All virtues are desirable. Speaking the truth is a virtue. Therefore, speaking the truth is desirable. Even before it is uttered, a number of difficulties have already been built into this apparently non-controversial syllogism. When it is said that, “all virtues are desirable”, there is no mention of a time factor (pathway) or intention (source of a virtue). For instance, speaking out against an act of aggression is a virtue, but is it desirable? A simple analysis would indicate that unless the time is increased to infinity (meaning something that is desirable in the long run), practically all virtues are undesirable. For instance, even giving out in charity requires austerity in the short term, defending a nation requires self-sacrifice – an extremely undesirable phenomenon in the short term. In the same way, if giving charity is a virtue, would that make giving away stolen goods a charity? Robin Hood may be an acceptable hero in the post-Renaissance culture, but is such a categorization scientifically grounded? Giving away stolen goods can be a virtue only if the history (time function) is obliterated. This would make the process inherently aphenomenal. The third component is in the source of an act. For instance, is giving away with the intention of recovering something in the future a virtue? Is helping an oppressor, who would use the information given to increase oppression a virtue? Can someone give out state secrets to the enemy just because it is the truth? How about speaking the truth when it brings in

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animosity? For instance, if a person has spoken ill of another person, is it a virtue to convey that message to that person even if the allegations are true? This logic shows the need for highlighting both the source (intention) and the pathway (time function going back to the origin) of an action in order to qualify it as a virtue. The scientifically correct reworking of this syllogism should be: All “virtues” are desirable for all humans [major premise]; Speaking “the truth” is a virtue at all times [minor premise]; Therefore, speaking “the truth” is desirable at all times. What is mentioned as major can stand for generic – the essence of universality whereas the minor premise relates to specific. However, the conclusion is true universally and at all times under two conditions: 1. The definition of ‘virtue’ is based on fundamentally correct premise that includes intention as well as pathway; 2. The definition of ‘the truth’ is based on fundamentally correct premise. The logic goes back to an even more fundamental premise that must provide one with the definition of true virtue and then qualify the truth. It essentially shows, there has to be a duality of premises that can form an axis, which can then be used to define universal laws. The duality here is similar to the yin yang duality that has been shown in science as ubiquitous, first starting with creator and creation. We will see in a later section, this duality in cognition sense refers to law maker and law giver. The immediate outcome of this analysis is the complete disclosure of the source, pathway (time function), and final outcome (time t approaching ∞) of an idea, prior to initiating the action. This analysis can and does restore to its proper place the rational principle underlying the comparing of natural thought to spurious or aphenomenal ones. Figure 4.9 shows the two contrasting pathways, one based on fundamentally true major and minor premises and the other on false premises. It is important to note that the entire continent of Europe traveled the path of ignorance since the time Romans took over the helm. This journey of ignorance was only painted the color of religion when Roman Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity as the state religion. This is quite an irony because it was the same Roman regime that ‘killed Jesus’ in Palestine. Ever since, every theory that was developed in Europe, whether by the ‘religious’ or the ‘secular’ group, were nothing but two sides of darkness

Psychological Grounding 251 (or yin yang of negativity). Making bifurcations in the ignorance channel only made the overall status of knowledge more negative than before. At the end we have a trinity morphed into ‘multiple history of every object’. This spiraling down decline has been called the HSSA (Honey --> Sugar --> Saccharine --> Aspartame) degradation. Here, we are talking about Qur’anic cognition to Idealism (attributed to Plato), then Realism (attributed to Aristotle), then Pragmatism (attributed to Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, Chauncey Wright, John Dewey and George Herbert Mead), then Existentialism (attributed to Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), and Franz Kafka (1883–1924)). Of course, as Islam (2016) recently pointed out, the exception was the 1,000 years of the Islamic era, but they are not ever considered in any academic discussion today. Even “Muslims” think that Islamic scholars contributed to European “knowledge”. Little do they realize they never crossed path because Islamic scholars had traveled an entirely different path, from first premise to the subsequent logical pathway. What doesn’t help is much of the propaganda that comes out of the mainstream media or alternate media 24/7 in the every imaginable form. It is mind-control, the endless propaganda, the manufactured fear that makes people freely give up all their rights, their ability to think, debate, even think rationally. This is equally applicable to the right or left sides of the modern-day cognition spectrum. Figure 4.9 shows how none of the conformists’ outcomes can be trusted. In fact, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., famously pointed out, “We should

Knowledge True premises

False premises

Religious/seculsr disagreement and ‘Agree to disagree’ conformance

Ignorance

Figure 4.9 All arguments based on false premises end up increasing ignorance.

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never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal‘ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal.’ It was ‘illegal’ to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany.” Unless one starts off on a set of correct premises, there is no way to correct the degradation. The aphenomenal process (downward curves on Figure 4.9) is not amenable to self-correction. If the source (first premises) were to be ignored, there would be no difference between regimes such as political Islam and Communism, both of which apply very similar political and socio-economical processes (Zatzman and Islam, 2007). With the current analysis, both source and pathway are taken into account, blocking the way to such premature and counterfeit declarations. This is not to say there may not be ways to improve upon the best uses humans can make of whatever has already been given in the natural realm. If, however, any such improvements are to be sustainable — the only test of truth in nature being that which eventuates over the passage of time — they cannot simply substitute something “identical”, completely discounting or ignoring the source(s) and pathway(s) of the phenomenal original. In this, the validity of any conclusion would depend on the intention. If the intention is not phenomenal (real or consistent with the phenomenal first premise), every conclusion will be aphenomenal. Here, there is only one phenomenal intention, which coincides with the true first premise. This aspect will be clarified in later sections.

4.10

The Invocation of God

The notion of God as the maker of the standard of truth goes back to the most ancient of civilizations, ranging from ancient Chinese, Indian, to Greek. However, much of this information has been lost and if it wasn’t for the Muslim scholars that took great pains in translating ancient works into Arabic, we wouldn’t have access to the work of many of the ancient scholars. In particular, the work of ancient Greeks drew particular interest in modern Europe. However, much of this knowledge was lost in the process of dogmatization that twisted all information to fit the dogmatic narration of humanity. This explains why all European theories, including those of the self-proclaimed ‘secular’ origin, are in reality some regurgitated form of the ‘original sin’ model of humanity. One has to read carefully to discover that ancient Greek civilization made reference to God as the Creator as well as the absolute truth. In fact, the narration of Plato that is widely accepted as the ‘idealist view’ stipulates that God is the only entity that is not non-fleeting, thereby, being the Truth or the Real. This is

Psychological Grounding 253 in line with the oriental concept that ‘truth unravels itself ’ (Chhetri and Islam, 2008). Every civilization recounted in history other than the postRoman Catholic Church’s Eurocentric era had a clear connection of God with what constitutes truth. Plato understood it as synonymous with the real that doesn’t change with time (the physical world being fleeting or a function of time is not ‘real’). Aristotle understood it as what really ‘is’. In ancient India, Truth was defined as “unchangeable”, “that which has no distortion”, “that which is beyond distinctions of time, space, and person”, “that which pervades the universe in all its constancy”. These, along with the national motto of India, “Satyameva jayate” (Truth alone wins), as well as “Satyam muktaye ” (Truth liberates), are entirely consistent with how Qur’an defined Truth as one of the 99 traits of the Creator. Other traits matching ‘unchangeable’ are ‘no distortion’, beyond time, space, and person’, etc. This was so well known in the Islamic golden era that each scholar (e.g., Avicenna, Averröes, Alhazen) started off restating what constitutes the truth. The first distortion was introduced by Augustine, who was the first to break down the most important feature of truth – uniqueness. He wrote in his “Trinity”, “God is truth for he, too, has a true [real] soul who has not a great soul; since the essence of body and soul is not the essence of the truth [reality] itself; as is the Trinity, one God, alone, great, true, truthful, the truth…” Then came Thomas Aquinas. He had access to Avicenna and Averröes, as well as Aristotle (through Muslim scholars’ translation). He wrote: A natural thing, being placed between two intellects, is called true insofar as it conforms to either. It is said to be true with respect to its conformity with the divine intellect insofar as it fulfills the end to which it was ordained by the divine intellect... With respect to its conformity with a human intellect, a thing is said to be true insofar as it is such as to cause a true estimate about itself.

Overall, we have graduated from Dogma and trinity only to fall for the multiple history of the same physical point — otherwise known as … quantum theory. In the words of Niels Bohr (1885-1962), “The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. The opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth”. Opposite to light is a falsehood but opposite to falsehood is not necessarily the truth. Considering that there are an infinite number of falsehoods for each absolute truth; it is almost miraculous if one finds the truth by countering falsehood alone. Bohr was wrong in the simplest of logic but new science is so arrogant and fearful of the mainstream view, no one yelled, “The emperor has no clothes”. All these ‘intellectual’ talks assume that the probability of having any phenomenon take place (including

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such absurd possibilities as multiple history, ubiquitous existence of same matter, having absolute vacuum or infinite mass, infinite temperature, infinite growth rate) is finite and non-zero but having a creator that is external to creation (Qur’an 112:2) is zero. Invocation of God certainly didn’t save Christianity from insanity,22 whereas new science’s replacement of God with ‘Nature’ has made it even more lunatic than the infamous “Word of God” in the King James version of the ‘bible’. In the words of Laurence Vance, The King James version of the New Testament was completed in 1611 by 8 members of the Church of England. There were (and still are) no original texts to translate. The oldest manuscripts we have were written down hundreds of years after the last apostle died. There are over 8000 of these old manuscripts, with no two alike. The King James translators used none of these, anyway. Instead, they edited previous translations to create a version their king and Parliament would approve. So, 21st Century Christians believe the “Word of God” is a book edited in the 17th Century from 16th Century translations of 8000 contradictory copies of 4th Century scrolls that claim to be copies of lost letters written in the 1st Century. That’s not faith.

The ‘faith’ of new science has become even more lunatic than the infamous ‘religious faith’.

4.11 Is Invocation of God a Sound Premise? In spite of claims of secularism, today’s society continues to invoke God, either in its proper name, God, or in its secular alternative ‘Nature’. In addition, in many instances, philosophers have raised themselves to the rank of law maker.23 The most infamous invocation of God is in the U.S. currency that says ‘In God we trust’ (Picture 3). This invocation has no meaning unless that ‘god’ is qualified with evidence. For instance, the question to be answered is who is that God? And what does trust in that entity mean? Let’s consider the syllogism, implied in this phrase. There is God [major premise]; We have trust in that God [minor premise]; Therefore, we do the right thing. 22 Laurence M. Vance, 1993, Brief History of English Bible Translations, Pensacola, FL: Vance Publications. 23 See, for instance, the chapter on Locke, Hobbes, and Ibn Khaldun in op. cit. 7

Psychological Grounding 255

Picture 3 Unless it involves the Money god, this invocation is meaningless.

The above syllogism is the essence of the faith-based cognition process that has no functional meaning.24 Had the major premise meant God – the creator, trusting in God wouldn’t have an action item unless it was a command of God to trust Him for whatever reason. Trusting in God doesn’t create a certain behavior or accountability. In reality, it indemnifies a person from being accountable. In addition, doing the ‘right’ thing also becomes arbitrary, in the absence of any communication from God. However, this logic works ‘perfectly’, if the alleged god is actually Money – the source of power in the Eurocentric culture. As a result, the conclusion consolidates the ‘money the source of all power’ mantra, as with the aphenomenal model anything can be justified as long as there is enough money to pay for the required propaganda and spinning. This Money god is more than symbolic. Money represents the ultimate of the focus on tangibles or the doctrine of ‘Might is right’. Consider the following brief catalogue of contemporaneous transitions: from Trinity to infinite god (desire being the god), from God, Son, and Holy Ghost to Money, Sex, and Control, from Church, Monarch, and Feudal lords to Corporation, Church, and Government. Constantly, absurdities have been introduced as ‘science’ in all aspects of life, ranging from human health to political science. The entire process is about propping up the aphenomenal model, once known as dogma. It is done by trying to control access to true information in order to control the past. In George Orwell’s words, “He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” Orwell would know how the modern era, obsessed with tangibles and externals, operates. In the words of Nobel laureate economist, Joseph Stiglitz, “Those with power used that

24

Jaan Islam, Contrasting Political Theory in the East and West: Ibn Khaldun versus Hobbes and Locke, Int. J. Pol. Theory, vol. 1, issue 1.

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power to strengthen their economic and political positions, or at the very least to maintain them. They also attempted to shape thinking, to make acceptable differences in income that would otherwise be odious.” The lust for control, sex, and money has replaced the original Trinity. All we have is falsehood after falsehood so the first premises are never questioned, be it in science, political science, or individual or corporate intentions. Of course, real truth can set you free, but for a culture disconnected from Conscience, deceit holds the key to money – money for more money, sex, and control. “History is written by the victor” has become the governing principle of our knowledge that must seek guidance from history. A corrupt history is the essence of misguidance and gateway to ignorance. Each falsehood has enormous ripple effects and cannot be corrected without addressing the source, which is never touched in modernday cognition. Contrary to some beliefs, we have become progressively more dogmatic in our cognition, arriving eventually at the HSSA degradation detectable universally throughout every pore of contemporary society. At no time in known history was it actually recognized that history is not immutable. Both science (quantum theories of the origin of universe) and social science now openly accept the notion of multiple histories as fact. Today, if someone doesn’t like the past, all he needs to do is rewrite it and spend some money selling it as a fact. In the old days, someone actually had to disprove the factual errors of history. Dogma has erased this by invoking the Authority of God, albeit without any logic or justification. Nowadays, the dispute is in what constitutes ‘truth’. After the rise of pragmatism as the new dogma, ‘truth’ has become anything that can be ‘believed in’. The newer version of pragmatism adds ‘scientific’ flavor to the same nonsense and makes it more difficult to counter with logical discourse. Such a collapse of science has profound implications going forward. This conflation of Money god and creator God is not new and arguably Money was the reason the Roman Catholic Church gained the legitimacy of ‘state religion’ from the Roman empire. Today, this conflation continues. Only recently, the ‘in God we trust’ symbolism on U.S. currency was challenged in U.S. court.25 The plaintiff lawyer wrote, “The vast majority of nations manage to function without religious verbiage on their money.” Absent in this narration is the acknowledgement that there is a religion that has a distinctly different and wholly logical first premise, that is: There

25

Ryan Grenoble, Atheist Group Files Suit To Remove ‘In God We Trust’ From Currency, Huffington Post, Jan. 15, 2016.

Psychological Grounding 257 is no Ilah (someone worthy of being obsessed with) but Allah, changing the center for any approach of cognition. This is followed by the minor premise: Muhammad is Allah’s messenger. This set of premises immediately recognizes the existence of Qur’an, the communication from the Creator that was revealed to prophet Muhammad. If these premises are true, he would be the most educated person ever and a role model for the rest of the humanity. It would also make his companions the most rightly guided in human history. Clearly, recognizing the existence of God is not enough even as a starting point. What does? There is no ilah but Allah. This has been the starting point for every prophet that visited the earth. It is no small irony that Muslims that are in possession of the only divine script are subject to constant fear of persecution, if not threat of bombs or drone attacks.26

4.12 Fundamental Traits of Phenomenal Entities For a criterion to be universal and time-honored, it must fulfill two requirements: 1) must conform to natural traits; 2) must have authority from an external entity that is independent of time and space. Even though scientists and philosophers have invoked God or Nature implicitly, few in the modern era have attempted to understand the traits of either nature or God. The vast majority of them conflated God with Nature and traits of God with traits of nature. Before we can proceed, this understanding of Nature and God must be clear. Islam (2014) described the characteristic features of Nature as presented in 4.6. It also lists the nature of the artificial versions of natural products. It is important to note that the left-hand side statements are true – not in the tangible sense of being “verifiable”, but because there is no counter-example to those statements. The left-hand side of Table 4.6 shows the characteristic features of Nature. These are true features and are not based on perception. Each is true insofar as no example of the opposite has been sustained. It is important to note that the following table describes everything in existence as part of universal order and applies to everything internal, including time, and human thought material (HTM). However, the source of HTM, i.e., intention, forms no part of these features.

26

Jessica Chasmar ,Muslim-American Olympian feels unsafe ‘all the time’ in U.S., Washington Post, Aug. 4, 2016.

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Table 4.6 Typical features of natural processes as compared to the claims of artificial processes. Feature no.

Feature of natural

Feature of artificial

1

Complex

Simple

2

Chaotic

Ordered

3

Unpredictable

Predictable

4

Unique (every component is different), i.e., forms may appear similar or even “self-similar”, but their contents alter with passage of time

Normal

5

Productive

Reproductive

6

Non-symmetric, i.e., forms may appear similar or even “self-similar”, but their contents alter with passage of time

Symmetric

7

Non-uniform, i.e., forms may appear similar or even “self-similar”, but their contents alter with passage of time

Uniform

8

Heterogeneous, diverse, i.e., forms may appear similar or even “self-similar”, but their contents alter with passage of time

Homogeneous

9

Internal

External

10

Anisotropic

Isotropic

11

Bottom-up

Top-down

12

Multifunctional

Unifunctional

13

Dynamic

Static

14

Irreversible

Reversible

15

Open system

Closed system

16

True

Artificial

17

Self healing

Self destructive

18

Nonlinear

Linear

19

Multi-dimensional

Uni-dimentional

20

Zero degree of freedom*

Finite degree of freedom

21

Non-trainable

Trainable

22

Continuous function of space, without boundary

Discrete

23

Intangible

Tangible

24

Open

Closed

25

Flexible

Rigid

26

Continuous function of time

Discrete function of time

27

Balanced

Inherently unstable

*With the exception of humans that have freedom of intention (Islam et al., 2015).

Psychological Grounding 259 At the same time, all the properties stated on the right-hand side are aphenomenal; they are only true for a time period approaching zero, resulting in being “verifiable” only when the standard itself is fabricated. In other words, every statement on the right-hand side only refers to something that does not exist. For instance, honey molecules are considered to be extremely complex. They are complex because they have components that are not present in other products, such as sugar, which is identified as made up of “simple” molecules. Why are sugar molecules simple? Because, by definition, they are made of the known structures of carbon and hydrogen. A further review of Table 4.6 now will indicate how every item on the right-hand side is actually a matter of definition and a false premise. If one considers the features of artificial products in Table 4.6 with those of Table 4.7, it becomes clear that any science that would “prove” the features (based on a false premise) in Table 4.6 is inherently spurious. However, the science of tangibles does exactly that and discards all natural processes as “pseudoscience”, “conspiracy theory”, etc. The case in point can be derived from any theories or “laws” advanced by Bernoulli, Newton (regarding gravity, calculus, motion, viscosity), Dalton, Boyle, Charles, Lavoisier, Kelvin, Poiseuille, Gibbs, Helmholz, Planck and others who served as the pioneers of modern science. Each of their theories and laws had in common the first assumption that would not exist in nature, either in content (tangible) or in process (intangible). Of course, all these ‘laws’ are derived from Newtonian mechanics – something that has also fueled every theory of social science. Table 4.7 True difference between phenomenal and aphenomenal processes. Phenomenal

Aphenomenal

Progressive/youth measured Conservative/youth measured by departure from by the rate of change; natural state Non-progressive/resists change Unlimited adaptability and flexibility

Zero-adaptability and inflexible

Increasingly self evident with time

Increasingly difficult to cover up aphenomenal source

100% efficient

Efficiency approaches zero as processing is increased

Can never be proven to be unsustainable

Unsustainability unravels itself with time

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Table 4.8 Features of external entity (from Islam, 2014). Feature no.

Feature

1

Absolutely external (to everything else)

2

All encompassing

3

No beginning

4

No end

5

Constant (independent of everything else)

6

Uniform

7

Alive

8

Infinity

9

Absolutely True

10

Continuous

11

All-pervasive in space

12

All-pervasive in time

13

Infinite degree of freedom

14

Unique

15

Open system

16

Dissimilar to everything else

17

Absolute Time that control time that controls mass

18

Absolute mass (pure light)

At this point, it is appropriate to familiarize the readership of Table 4.8 that lists the fundamental features of the external entity. The existence of an external entity is a necessary condition in order to eliminate the notion of void that had been inherited from Atomism philosophy and was carried forward first by Thomas Aquinas and then by subsequent scientists, without exception. This external entity was first recognized as God (from the ancient Greek philosophers to Avicenna and Averröes of the Islamic golden era), then conflated as plenum and aether. While the existence of such entities has been denied and sometime ‘proven’ to be non-existent, the traits of this external entity have been included in all forms of ‘fundamental’ particles, ranging from photon to the Higgs boson. In addition, such features have also been invoked in galactic models in the form of various entities, ranging from “dark matter”, “black hole” to “absolute void”. Newton introduced this as ‘external’ force and defined it as the originator of differential motion. The original Averröes concept, as supported by the Qur’an, was that such

Psychological Grounding 261 originator of motion is the Creator, whose traits are all different from the traits of creation.

4.13 The Absolute Set of Fundamental Premises Nearly a millennium ago, long before the Renaissance reached Europe, Averröes (1126-1198 AD, known as Ibn Rushid outside of the Western world) pointed out that Aristotelian logic of the excluded middle cannot lead to increasing knowledge unless the first premise is true. In other words, the logic can be used only to differentiate between true and false, as long as there is a criterion that discerns the truth from falsehood. The difficulty, all the way to the present modern age, has been the inability to propose a criterion that is time-honored. For Averröes, the fundamental premise was that Qur’an represented the absolute truth. It was not a theological sermon or a philosophical discourse, it was purely scientific. Inspired by the Qur’an, which cites the root word ilm (meaning “science”) more than 700 times (the second most used word – second only to Allah – that is cited over 2,500 times (2,598 to be exact) in the Qur’an) is the only external standard there is. It is a fact that the Qur’an is the only available communication with the creator that remains intact since inception over 1,400 years ago. Qur’an also cites Adam (the first human and a messenger) 25 times, Moses 135 times, Abraham 67 times; Jesus (Isa Ibn Maryam) is mentioned 25 times, and Muhammad mentioned 4 times, thus debunking any theory that says Muhammad wrote the Qur’an to advance a personal agenda. It also shows the universal nature both in time and space, as it proclaims prophet Muhammad the last of numerous messengers of God. This Qur’an itself outlines the major and minor premises that are absolute, constant, and external to human subjectivity. It invokes prophet Muhammad as the communicator and further shows how to cognize to make the process of knowledge gathering complete. The first word revealed in the Qur’an is (96:1) is iqra27 (meaning ‘deduce’). The word ‘deduction’ has the Latin root of deductio that means ‘leading away’, ‘drawing out’, similar to the latin word, educere – the root word of education that means process of “bringing forth” or “leading out” one’s inherent qualities and unique traits necessary and sufficient for increasing one’s knowledge. Qur’an also outlines in clearest terms the purpose of human worldly life. However,

27

This word is erroneously translated as ‘read’. Prophet Muhammad didn’t know how to read or write.

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starting off with the deductive cognition, one can discover the rest as long as a conscious and conscientious effort is made. Let’s review the major fundamental premise stated in the Qur’an, along with the minor fundamental premise and possible outcome. There is no ilah except Allah [major premise] Muhammad is Allah’s messenger [minor premise] Therefore, emulating prophet Muhammad is the key to longterm success Logically, it flows that in order to emulate the life of the prophet, one would need a great deal of details of his life. It turns out that the most important work of historical reconstruction of the legacy bequeathed humanity by Prophet Muhammad was accomplished by Muhammad Bokhari (810870), the first person to compile a complete treatise of the Prophet’s biography. Bokhari tracked down and verified over 3,000 sayings and traditions of the Prophet, cited over 7,000 times (including repeats). As a point of reference, Qur’an is the only book that remains intact in its original content for over 1,400 years. This book is claimed to be the Creator’s word, related verbatim by Prophet Muhammad, who didn’t know how to read to write. Following that is the book of Hadith or the sayings of Prophet Muhammad. The word Hadith refers to 1. Description of Prophet Muhammad’s actions; 2. His verbal statements; 3. Actions of others that he condoned or didn’t correct despite knowing about it. The most authentic collection of Hadith is that by Bokhari. Bokhari and other scholars of the time spent their lifetimes gathering Hadiths and their research focused on authentication of the Hadith, rather than interpreting them.This line of research would make them historians rather than polymaths. For instance, Bokhari, who was from Uzbekstan, was schooled by the Malik school of Islamic jurisprudence, memorized the entire Qur’an by early childhood, then went on to memorizing the works of previous scholars that wrote on Hadiths as well as Islamic jurisprudence as the life of prophet Muhammad. As stated earlier, if this premise is true, he would be the most educated person ever and a role model for the rest of humanity. It would also make his companions the most rightly guided in human history. It is of importance, therefore, to evaluate the cognition process prophet Muhammad left behind. Figure 4.10 shows how it is a necessary condition to have two premises to converge to a uniquely phenomenal conclusion.

Psychological Grounding 263 Minor premise Major premise Precise conclusion point

Figure 4.10 With true major and minor premises, the conclusion will always be phenomenal.

Aphenomenal conclusion Third point Dogma deviation Minor premise Major premise Phenomenal conclusion point

Figure 4.11 The introduction of a third point creates inherently dogmatic conclusion that is aphenomenal, even when one of the premises might be true.

Natural deductive cognition becomes aphenomenal if one of the following situations arise (Islam et al., 2016). Islam (2016) points out that in case a third premise that contradicts with one or both of the fundamental premises is invoked, the cognition axis is no longer a deductive tool, it is an inherent hyperbole. In Arabic, this would stand for ‘dhawallin’ – a word reserved in the prophet’s time to describe people that believed in Trinity. Figure 4.11 shows how such introduction of a third point makes all conclusions inherently aphenomenal, even though the major or minor premise is true. The best-case scenario for the third-point cognition is when the third point is aligned with major and minor premises. It is clear that the introduction of a third premise should be avoided because it adds nothing to the robustness of the cognition axis. Equally flawed cognition arises when there is only one premise. For instance, Atheism, Capitalism, Communism all have just one premise, making the cognition process equivalent to cognitive schizophrenia.28 28

M.R. Islam et al., 2016, p. 41

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In theological terms, this is the effect Qur’anists (that avoid looking into Hadiths) use (Islam, 2016). They can pick up any verse of the Qur’an and extrapolate it based on another premise that is their invention (befitting their desired conclusions). This is the case that was discussed in the Qur’an as an example of Maghdboub (literally meaning the cursed ones) – the term used to describe Jews of prophet Muhammad’s time. In brief, it means, such cognition process allows for anyone to be the transmitter of knowledge (and ultimately causing everyone to become the transmitter), while in reality it is only ignorance and arrogance that are gained by this process. In the absence of two true points of cognition, the cognition becomes schizophrenic with numerous possibilities. This is the natural progression of dogma culture. Today, the essence of atheism is, everyone is correct and as long as the self cognition matches the desire, a person is entitled to following any cognition path.

4.14 Sufficiency of the Absolute Premises It is important to investigate if the above set of premises is indeed sufficient. Two questions arise, “How do we make sure everyone is hardwired to cognize with this logic”? and “What guarantees that a person doesn’t fall in the dogmatic deviation phase?” In Part 1, we have explained the nature of the Caliphate model of humanity. Every human is created in perfect form (Qur’an 95:4). Every human is also inherently duty-bound being Allah’s viceroy by nature (2:30). It might not be obvious but Qur’an reminds people that they should not forget they were all infants with no memory of infancy, yet they accept the fact that they were infants and they should also accept what is being told by Allah about their nature and their covenant with Allah (Qur’an 56:62). For them Qur’an is made easy (54:17) and a guidance for those that seek out consciously (Qur’an 2:2), use aql (40:67), and Allah doesn’t misguide anyone other than fassiq (transgressor) – those that break Allah’s covenant and create Fassad (mischief) (Qur’an 2:26). Everyone is born Moumin; they are born with all 99 expressed traits of God, the first quality being empathy (rahma – the root word is Rahm that leads to Rahman and Raheem that mean womb with infinite extent and infinite duration, respectively). This is entirely in conformance with the viceroy status. A human keeps in contact with the Monarch (‘salat’ in Arabic and yoga in Sanskrit both mean “communication”) and manages the finances with utmost care (generosity and charity is a fundamental trait that is

Psychological Grounding 265 mandated)29 and acts in the same manner the Monarch would have acted if the viceroy were not there. So, how does one act like the Monarch? He follow his traits. That’s when the first revealed verse of Qur’an becomes handy. It says, “iqra (deduce) in the ithm (natural trait) of Allah” (Qur’an 96:1). How is that trait embedded? The word ‘Deen’ in Arabic and Dharma in Sanskrit both mean ‘natural traits’ and not religion as commonly translated. In fact, the word religion and ‘Deen’ are opposite of the cognition spectrum. It is also logical that a good Monarch would prepare his viceroy well and give him enough provision. Most importantly, for a viceroy to be held accountable, a viceroy must have certain freedom. This freedom happens to be mentioned in the first Hadith of the book of Bokhari that states that a man will be judged for his intention. Islam gives the freedom of intention, everything else (including provision) being part of the universal order for which he has no accountability. The role of intention is central to the human cognition and anything else that goes with the responsibility of the viceroy. This ownership of intention makes him unique as no other entity other than the Creator has any freedom whatsoever. Of course, the ultimate of all freedom belong to God, but humans are given freedom of their intention. In addition to being the absolute owner of his intention, each human being is equipped with 99 good traits that are similar to the Creator’s, albeit at a miniscule level.

4.15 Scientific Cognition Based on the Absolute Set of Fundamental Premises The essence of this chapter up to this point is that the set of fundamental premises make it possible for humans to cognize on their own and discharge their duty as the viceroy of the Creator. This process is the most important step before any action can take place. The most famous Hadith states static (original) intention (niyah) to be the source of all actions and accountability and ask followers to optimize dynamic intention (qsd), in line with niyah and niyah in line with his role as a khalifah (viceroy). Prophet Muhammad said, “Cure to ignorance is to question.” This cognition model was introduced by Prophet Muhammad and subsequently formed the core of the Islamic socio-political and justice system. Some of the greatest scholars of Islam learned in such a way, and taught their students this way as well. This science of knowledge gathering continued over 1,000 years subsequent to the dismantling of Rashedun Caliphate. 29

Qur’an 2:5 gives these as the criteria for success.

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During this period, there was an unprecedented rise in achievements that encompass a wide range of subject areas; most notably Mathematics, Astronomy, Medicine, Physics, Alchemy and chemistry, Cosmology, Ophthalmology, Geography and Cartography, Sociology and Psychology. Outside of the dogma-infested Europe as well as Islamic society, the sciences, which included philosophy, were viewed holistically. The individual scientific disciplines were approached in terms of their relationships to each other and the whole, as if they were branches of a tree. In this regard, the most important scientists of Islamic civilization have been the polymaths, known as hakim or doctors. Their role in the transmission of the sciences was central. The hakim was most often a poet and a writer, skilled in the practice of medicine as well as astronomy and mathematics. These multitalented sages, the central figures in Islamic science, elaborated and personified the unity of the sciences. They orchestrated scientific development through their insights, and excelled in their explorations as well. Today, it’s widely recognized that Ibn sina (Avecina) is the father of modern medicine and alchemy, Ibn Rushd (Averröes) the father of secular philosophy and education, Ibn Haitham (Alhazen) the father of modern optics, Al-Kindi (Alkindus) the father of information processing, Ibn Khaldun the father of modern social sciences, Al-Khwārizmī  the founding father of algebra and mathematics, and Al-Farabi the father of epistemology and metaphysics. How could those people of the medieval age garner such a feat? It was because they used Islamic cognition tool even outside of political Islam. Ironically, Averröes introduced this very model in Europe and yet he is known as ‘the father of secular philosophy’ in Europe. In other parts of the world, this knowledge model is known as the Islamic model. Prophet Muhammad’s teaching style and the education system he instituted has been studied in great detail. Islam et al., (2013) summarized the scientific cognition process adopted by Islamic scholars for some 1,000 years, during which these scholars excelled in all aspect of scholarship. Islam (2016) pointed out that Averröes, like all other Islamic scholars, understood the value of scientific cognition that starts with the Qur’an. For every verse of Qur’an there are contextual Hadiths, forming yet another axis of acceptable or permissible lifestyle. Once again, the deduction axis remains the same, as depicted in Figure 4.12. This graph is not reversible or the sequence is not exchangeable. For instance, if one starts with Hadith to fit the desired conclusion, it creates misplacement of cognition process. Such misplacement is the core meaning of the word Dhulm, which is usually translated as ‘oppression’. Khan and Islam (2016) showed that the above graph (Figure 4.12) is equally applicable to Figure 7. They used the premise ‘Nature is perfect’, thereby placing natural phenomena in the place of Qur’anic verses.

Psychological Grounding 267 Minor premise Major premise

Realm of possibilities

Figure 4.12 Cognition starts with the major premise, then time scaling is performed by putting in the context of the minor premise. Sustainable/ ideal Signs of nature Latitude of permissibility

Figure 4.13 Requirements of sustainable technology development is similar to Islamic cognition.

By placing sustainable lifestyle in the context of idealization, Figure 4.13 shows a set of permissible practices. Both figures show the existence of multiple practices or interpretations, all of which are acceptable, as long as the intention of cognition is to conform with the truth or the long-term approach. It is so because they satisfy all three requirements of phenomenal deduction procedure, outlined in previous sections. The latitude of permissible is valid only for individuals that started the cognition with a good intention. The true scientific cognition process is summarized in the following three stages: Major premise: Must be a phenomenal premise, in conformance of natural phenomena; Acceptance of the scientific process of cognition Making the intention to conform with long-term interest (this one is in line with the definition of sustainability)

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Beneficial

The approach of obliquity

Benefit

t

Time The myopic approach

t Harmful

0 Ignorance

Figure 4.14 Approach of obliquity is the essence of truly scientific cognition.

For a person to be grounded, his or her every action must precede this sort of questioning. While it is impractical for every action, it is important to keep the focus on the long term and affirm to oneself that the universal order is not in our control. What we have control over is our intention. By making our intention focused on the long term, we can be at peace with whatever comes to us. Figure 4.14 clarifies this point. This chapter can be concluded with the following 1. The current socio-political system is inherently dogmatic due to the absence of a universal and time-honored standard and criterion of truth. 2. The scientifically correct cognition must start with fundamentally sound major and minor premises. 3. With the correct set of premises, there is a paradigm shift in all aspects of scientific cognition. 4. Any policy based on this truly scientific cognition will become the impetus of a social revolution, leading to fundamental change in the direction in our civilization. 5. Unless the scientific cognition process is followed, all laws and systems are inherently dogmatic, hence unlawful in terms of true universalism, thereby unable to bring about psychological grounding.

The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering: Applications for Mental Disorder Treatments, Volume 3. M. R. Islam, Jaan S. Islam and G.M. Zatzman. © 2017 Scrivener Publishing LLC. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

5 Drivers of Mental Ailments and Natural Remedy

5.1 Introduction We have seen thus far that humanity is about being ‘godly’. This is in line with the purpose of life that was well known in ancient times as well as in the Islamic golden era but has been forgotten during post-Roman Catholic Church Europe. If thinking conscientiously is humanity’s most important trait, depression and schizophrenia have to be the two most important drivers of mental malady. Similar to all other matters, these drivers also have tangible and intangible qualities that manifest as the yin yang, depression being the intangible or the source and schizophrenia being the tangible expression. Figure 5.1. depicts the interaction and yin yang expression of the driver of mental ailments. We have seen in Chapter 3 that despite claims, chemical drugs have little effect in the short term and negative effects in the long term. In Volumes 1 and 2 of this book series (Islam et al., 2015; 2016), we have demonstrated the science of the fact that chemical drugs and chemical approaches in general are not effective and are harmful to the organism in the long term. 269

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Schizophrenia

Depression

Figure 5.1 Just like a negative yin yang, depression and schizophrenia form the basis for all other mental health issues.

We consider depression as the intangible (source) of the driver of the mental ailment. As such, this chapter will consider depression and its natural remedies.

5.2

Cause of Depression

Scientifically, depression is the feeling of overwhelming despair that gives the feeling of the heart being ripped apart. People that have experienced it say that it is the worst pain they have ever endured. Following are some of the symptoms of depression: Too little or too much sleep (as compared to a person’s natural lifestyle, bearing in mind there is a general tendency of gradual change in one’s sleeping pattern with age); Weight gain or weight loss without any reasonable change in dietary habits; Agitated or sluggish, swinging in between extremes; Sad or very ill tempered; Loss of interest in the pleasures of life, as well as work, family and friends; Unable to concentrate and make decisions; Feeling despair, guilty and unworthy; Fatigue and an overall loss of energy; Suicidal thoughts, sometimes followed up with plans; Numbness and unexplained aches and pains.

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While medical science tells us that experiencing five or more of the above syndromes for a period of two weeks makes a person clinically depressed, no one tells us why the limit of two weeks, what causes such these syndromes or how to remedy them. Of course, these syndromes are not unrelated to each other and they feed each other in a series of aphenomenal cognition. For instance, loss of pleasures of life leads to feeling of unworthy of pleasure, then when pains (emotional heartache turning into real ache) become so intense that death appears to be the only relief from the pain. The data that 15% of people with chronic depression commit suicide shouldn’t come as a surprise. Also, no one should be surprised that the vast majority of these actually have solicited professional medical advice and two-thirds of them have visited a medical facility within a month of the suicide (Harwitz and Ravizza, 2000). Similarly, combine inability to make decisions, agitation, very ill temper, with loss of interest in family and friends, and one has the recipe for a homicide at an opportune moment (Rosenbaum and Bennett, 1986; Aloosh and Behzadi, 2016). They all start with a disconnection of conscience from the purpose of life, in which hope is replaced with fear. This is the bifurcation point that makes people change their true good nature and from that point onward, their entire outlook becomes marred with hopeless myopia. We have covered this aspect extensively in previous volumes of this book series. This is the addiction mode, in which a person behaves like ‘a chicken with its head cut off ’. This is the time the hustler’s mindset starts. The focus becomes so intensely short term that people measure success by how quickly they achieve the most desirous objective, without consideration of the purpose of such desire, which in most cases is to maximize pleasure in the shortest possible time frame. Here it suffices to list how this short-term approach creates the following transformations: Love → Lust (instant gratification, making ‘love‘ is a four-letter word) Love of children → Pedophilia Consultation → Politicking Liberation→Enslavement Beautiful → Cute Freedom →Panic Security → Fear Wisdom → Wit Need → Greed Good → Tasty Justice → Revenge Passion → Obsession

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Contentment → Gloating Quenching thirst → Bloating Feeding hunger → Gluttony Pure → Refined Dream → Fantasy Revolution → Convulsion Intrigue → Boredom Figure 5.2 shows the transformation during the spiral down mode. It is to be noted that during the spiral down mode, each node may offer yet another option that is equally devastating and for a moment it may appear to be a remedy. In reality, the only remedy is to return to the fundamental premise and reconnect and climb up the Hope graph. The upward-moving graph starts off with connection with the Creator for perfect grounding. The word connection is Yoga in Sanskrit and Salah in Arabic. Qur’an, for Hope Death an opportunity to return to creator Gratefull for the opportunity ti live

Everything id meaningful

Connection (yoga, salah) Pleasure in acting ‘godly’

No pleasure Disconnection (Hustler mode)

Feeling unworthy and hopeless

Life meaningless, pain too intense

Fear

Death better than pain = suicide

Figure 5.2 The fear model is the one that drives depression. The only way to revert the downfall is to reconnect (grounding) and follow the hope model.

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instance, cites Salah over 80 times, always in terms of establishing Salah, and that happens to be at least five times a day. This is not to be conflated with prayer or wish. In fact, it is connection with the Creator. As we’ll see in a later section, the modern-day meaning of yoga has been changed to ‘connecting with nothing’ (also known as ‘emptying one’s mind of any thought’). This is in fact an absurdity and in line with replacing Creator with nothingness. Thankfully, this corrupted meaning of yoga is only less than a century old, synchronizing with the plastic revolution that unleashed artificials in all walks of life. With the Connection mode, a person has an entirely different outlook of life. As pointed out in the graph, once connected or grounded, a person finds pleasure in godly behavior. In a previous chapter, we listed 99 of such traits and we have theorized that every human is born with these traits. With those traits, a person is infinitely grateful and humbled by the responsibility to be the viceroy of the creator. He then sees everything in a positive light, including hardships. With this mode, a person can sacrifice the most precious of possessions and does not fear death. In fact, he has no fear whatsoever in this world, as he knows this world is extremely transitory and he prepares for the long term, for which he must act now. At the end, instead of fearing death, he sees it an opportunity to return to his creator. Overall, the hope mode is an antithesis of the panic or fear mode.

5.3 Intangible Treatments for Depression 5.3.1 The Intangible Theory We have already established in Volumes 1 and 2 of this book series (Islam et al., 2015 and 2016) and partly in this volume that depression is a result of fear caused by vulnerability and loneliness, that it essentially is, nothing to rely on. Even when it is triggered by a real stimulus (e.g., physical violence, psychological trauma), fear should not be a starting point for planning of the future. Figure 5.2 clarifies this point. Unless this point is recognized, a person is vulnerable to succumb to the ‘fear model’ and travel the spiraling down pathway. In Islam the cause is very clear. Qur’an states that turning away from Creator causes depression. Scientifically, it means if a person is not grounded or anchored to true cognition, he or she will wander away and wouldn’t be able to return to logical thinking – the essence of humanity. This in turn will trigger depression and other ailments to follow.

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” “ “And whoever turns away from My remembrance - indeed, he will have a depressed life…” Qur’an 20:124 As we discussed in Chapter 4, if anyone departs from the job description, his or her credibility comes into question and the person potentially loses the privileges of the job. Up until the time the Roman Catholic Church got hold of European cognition, the purpose of life, as known from ancient times and later recognized by the Qur’an, has been to follow the knowledge pathway, which involves taking a long-term approach (or approach of obliquity – see the upward graph in Figure 5.2). Qur’an puts this purpose succinctly in Chatper 51, verse 56. “ ” “And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to yabud Me.” Qur’an 51:56 The Arabic word yabud ( ) needs clarification. Typically it’s translated as worship. However, this translation is not scientific and falls in line with dogmatic tradition of rituals. Scientifically, this word means ‘to obey with love’. One of the 99 traits of the Creator, as mentioned in the Qur’an, is ‘Al-wadud’ (Qur’an 85:14), meaning the ‘Ultimate Lover’. In ancient cultures, it is recognized that the creation of everything from nothing (the unique trait of the Creator) is a manifestation of pure love (Scheweig, 2005), which is mutual (Creator by choice and creation by design). Similarly, Voegelin (1968) used the term, theophilos, to mean “lover of God”. He cited Socrates’ work to point out that humans cannot be characterized as knowledgable, only the lover of Knowledge as God is in possession of all knowledge (Sophos in Greek and Al-Aleem in Arabic). It then follows that the philosophos (as in philosopher) is only the lover of divine knowledge and as such then becomes ‘lover of God’ or theophilos. So, it is entirely logical to expect that humans that are the designated viceroy of the creator reciprocate the ‘love of God’ quality by obeying the Creator with love. This in turn, sets one up for the Hope model (Figure 5.2). It is also consequential to discuss the root meaning of the word Allah. Even though this word is considered to be without any root, the most scientific meaning of the word is ‘Al Ilah’ or ‘The Ilah’. Beyond the conventional meaning of the word, i.e., ‘deity’, the word in fact relates to an entity that is absolutely reliable and absolutely worth being obsessed with or passionate about. Once again, the tone of love is quite clear. Because the major premise of Islam is ‘there is no ilah but Allah’, Allah is then invoked as the only one to be relied on. It is important to know that the concept of Allah in Islam makes a perfect “reliable one” for people in hardship and depression, for everybody. Two of Allah’s first

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traits, “Rahmān” and “Rahīm,” have ‘womb’ as the root meaning, something nurturing us from the outside and at the same time being, “closer to you (humans) than your jugular vein” (Qur’an 50:16), while at the same time being completely external. External in the sense that it is impossible to fight (and hence have any effect on) it, “Samad” has this meaning: “ ” “Say: he [Allah] is the Samad” (Qur’an 112:2). As we have seen in Chapter 4, Allah is external to the entire creation, meaning external to the entire universe and the seven layers of the universe (the seven skies, as in Qur’an 2:29) that he created. So we have an external Allah outside of us and we are unable to see it; however, at the same time it provides us with provisions (Razzāq), looks after us, and truly loves us (Wadūd). Because of this type of relationship we are stated to have, the Qur’an (Allah) that tells people who believe in him1 to turn to his remembrance and seek help through connection (salah or yoga), which is the direct way to reach Him. “ ” “And seek help through patience and salah, and indeed, it is difficult except for the humbly submissive [to Allah ]” Qur’an 2:45 “ ” “O you who have believed, seek help through patience and salah. Indeed, Allah is with the patient.” Qur’an 2:153 Regarding this topic, Sabry and Vohra (2013) look at the Islamic philosophy and its role in the cause and treatment of psychiatric disorders. They quote another verse, pertinent to all physical and mental problems: “… And whosoever puts his trust in Allah, then He will suffice him…” Qur’an 65:3. They also provide hope for those in a state of hardship: “So, verily, with every difficulty, there is relief: Verily, with every difficulty there is relief.” (Qur’an, 94: 5-6)2. This is interesting as it is similar to karma, as it assures some kind of compensation for the hardship of any person, even though this verse applies to relief in this life only. In addition, it gives hope in terms of a plural form of relief for every singular form of difficulty. However, there is a notable difference between Islamic compensation and karma; in Islam, the compensation may be in the short term or the long

1 This is a necessary condition to listen to anything in the Qur’an as it is the first premise of the Qur’an itself, being Allah’s speech. 2 In Arabic, the word ‘yusra’ that stands for relief is used in its plural form whereas the difficulty (‘usri) part is expressed in a singular form.

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term. This is because there is no assurance of any good or bad in this world, as there is a “Qadr”, predetermined destiny or universal order. However in the hereafter, the ‘next’ world, there will be justice and compensation. One Qur’anic verse tells us that one must seek good in the next world and this world, but there is only guarantee of the next world: “And when you have completed your rites, remember Allah like your [previous] remembrance of your fathers or with [much] greater remembrance. And among the people is he who says, ‘Our Lord, give us in this world,’ and he will have in the Hereafter no share. But among them is he who says, ‘Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire’” (Qur’an 2:200-1). This is quite understandable because by its very nature the long-term approach doesn’t focus on short-term gains. This verse also proves the point that nothing can change the predetermined universal order. By wishing that in the short term, ignoring the long-term implication, a person falls into depression in this life and loses any hope for the long-term life of hereafter. As discussed in Chapter 3, a short-term approach is not a starting point for recovery from any ailment. In Qur’anic discourse, humans are advised to seek protection from worry and grief/sadness by asking Allah for refuge. There are several prophetic hadith that relate depression to a lack of connection with with the Creator. For instance, consider the following: - Whenever the prophet was in distress, they would seek the ultimate connection with Allah: Salāt: Hudhaifah said: “When anything distressed the Prophet, he offered salah” (Sunan Abi Dawud 1319). - Allah will relieve people of distress if they truly ask for it: Riyad al_ Saliheen 20:5 Ibn Abbas said the Messenger of Allah said, “If anyone constantly seeks pardon (from Allah), Allah will appoint for him a way out of every distress and a relief from every anxiety, and will provide sustenance for him from where he expects not.” - The Prophet himself would supplicate to Allah when in distress (Jami’i at-Tirmidhi 3435): Ibn Abbas narrated that when he was in distress, the Prophet of Allah would supplicate: “There is no ilah (worthy of worship) except Allah, the Forbearing, the Wise, there is no ilah (worthy of worship) except Allah, the Lord of the Magnificent Throne, there is no ilah (worthy of worship) Allah, the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and the Lord of the Noble Throne (Arabic: ).” Relying on other people, even the best of people, is ineffective at curing depression/removing distress (Sunan Abi

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Dawood 2535): Narrated Abdullah ibn Hawalah al-Azdi: “The Messenger of Allah sent us on foot to get spoil, but we returned without getting any. When he saw the signs of distress on our faces, he stood up on our faces and said: ‘O Allah, do not put them under my care, for I would be too weak to care for them; do not put them in care of themselves, for they would be incapable of that, and do not put them in the care of men, for they would choose the best things for themselves.’” Distress and grief is all a function of the temporary, insignificant realm of this world (Riyad al-Saliheen 1:577): Ibn Mas’ud reported: “The Prophet drew up a square and in the middle of it he drew a line, the end of which jutted out beyond the square. Further across the middle line, he drew a number of smaller lines. Then he said, ‘The figure represents man and the encircling square is the death which is encompassing him. The middle line represents his desires and the smaller lines are vicissitudes of life. If one of those misses him, another distresses him, and if that one misses him, he falls victim to another.’” It is very clear that according to the Qur’an and Prophetic sayings, the cure to depression (the way to untangle the sense of helplessness) is by making a connection to Allah, the caretaker of the entire universe. There is no scholarly work to our knowledge that addresses the issue of “salah” or the Islamic practices in particular; however, there is a body of literature that looks into yoga and its effect on depression. The root word of yoga, “yuj” in Sanskrit, means union, joining, concentrating of attention. Yoga means union and connection; basically it is the notion of addition, connection or joining of things. Similarly, the word “Salāt” in Arabic means connection, joining; it basically has the same meaning. As discussed in Volume 1 (Islam et al., 2015), yoga has the same notion of Salah, and yoga in practice in ancient Indian times implied connection to “Mahidhara”. The Mahidhara means the holder of the universe. Today, of course, especially with the advent and popularity of yoga in the West, yoga has the meaning of grounding one’s self and connecting essentially to nothing; learning of the mind. Grounding in this case refers to the inner self, increasing awareness of yourself which supposedly helps with several mental health problems. Figure 5.4 shows how both processes end up achieving the same goal; however, it should be noted that the original yoga allows for the root of the

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Distractions Death box Yoga Modern yoga

Figure 5.3 shows the difference between the types of yoga, and represents the typical person, whether depressed or not. The person is bound to go through difficulties of life causing them to be affected and distracted; however, it is a very short-term cycle and will inevitably end at death (the box). What real yoga does is allow for the depressed/person in hardship to focus on the much larger and significant external, outside of the box, rather than the small, temporary lines within the box. Modern yoga focuses so much on the straight line (pathway, desires), that the practitioner is isolated from the distractions of life. We hypothesize that the latter way is much more effective as it allows for a person to “latch” onto an external (which targets the key cause of depression) while effectively isolating himself or herself from life’s misfortunes.

problem of depression to be targeted. In Arabic this is similar to the names of Allah “Rahmān” and Rahīm”. Salāt in practice3 is of course connection to Allah as was explained above. We will examine some literature connecting health benefits of yoga, and connect the overview to the concept of yoga and how it is logical that it helps with stress, anxiety, and depression. Figure 5.4 clarifies this point. Salmon et al. (2009) quotes an author studying external and real yoga, saying “Mindful Yoga is a specific attitude and attentional stance that we bring to our practice, both on the mat and in daily life: namely, a refined, moment-to-moment non-judgmental, non-striving attending to the entire range of our experience”. This is what is considered mindful yoga, instead of “physical fitness dressed in spiritual clothing”. One can make the analogy of the real (mindful) yoga and the physical yoga to that of the fasting Muslims observe in Ramadan. Yes, there are always health benefits;

3

Practice means started off with the prophet and practiced by his companions and Muslims up to today.

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Original yoga: Connecting to external, mahidhara

External self

Inner self

Modern yoga: connecting to inner self

Figure 5.4 The two types of yoga both distract from the external circle, the one causing the problems. Original yoga connects to an external being, modern yoga connects to self.

however, beyond that lies a spiritual, intangible reason to fast. They emphasize the importance of having movements that are observed to help with focus, the goal of yoga, which are better than sitting and “doing nothing,” as doing nothing, unless deliberately activated, activates a possible decrease in attention and focus. From this study we conclude that there is a connection between yoga and consciousness, as well as between physical movement and focus. Woodyard (2011) discussed the overall beneficial effects of yoga. Yoga was found (in a literature review) to be helpful in alleviating insomnia and anxiety, blood pressure, cardiac output, depression, stress and other physical instabilities. The reason why exactly this may be the case has only begun to be understood by researchers today. However, the following facts are acknowledged about it: It encourages relaxing, breath control, and a focus on the present. This decreases worry about other parts of life and this is aided by the pose-to-pose movements. One of the primary goals is to achieve peace of mind, tranquility, attentiveness, self-confidence, and an optimistic life view. Practices inhibit fear and aggressiveness parts of the brain, as well as decrease sympathetic response to stimuli. In Buddhism, it is philosophized that yoga helps focus on existence and the self and detaches from thoughts (such as in addiction).

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While this paper acknowledges the value of detachment from shortterm focus (such as addiction), it doesn’t address the benefit of connecting with the Creator in order to have psychological grounding. This section gave us an idea of how yoga helps, and more about the theory of why it may have beneficial effects. In summary, we know a few crucial points about yoga and why it has been perceived as beneficial. Firstly, it focuses attention on the self (Ramos-Jimenes, 2015); this decreases focus on the other aspects of life and allows for one to appreciate existence and the self and hence detach from the future and present and worries caused by this life. Secondly, the physical movements help this to happen, to focus the mind on a moment-to-moment basis, to achieve the purpose of yoga. Modern yoga today means (the more spiritual kind, not the non-spiritual kind acknowledged by Gordon, 2013) disconnection of the self from worldly pleasures and worries and hence the finding of peace in the inner self. This is supported by the notion that behind the philosophy of yoga is isolation of the abstract world from the material (concrete) world, and the theory that “All those who are unhappy in the world are so as a result of their desire for their own happiness” (Rajesh et al., 2012). In summary, the broader philosophical concepts of yoga are oriented around separation from the worldly unhappy things and the focus on the self. Unfortunately, a once enlightening, humbling, and surrendering (to the universal order and pre-destined unhappiness) practice has been transformed into such that one himself becomes the source of happiness, in a selfish way. Logically, it makes sense that yoga encourages focus in one’s self instead of others and other parts of the world, but individualism seems to have grasped the wrong side of the purpose of yoga, which is interpreted as making one’s self the god, instead of no god. What yoga does, in principle, is remove any god or desire from the global spectrum, by focusing on the self and the self ’s long-term unbreakable connection with the Creator. What the West has done is to see the person as the god instead of not god, and then conclude that things do not matter because the god is one’s self. It’s equivalent to creating the Self as deity (Islam et al., 2015). Evidence for this transformation is discussed in detail by Strode (2012). It is discussed that the purpose of yoga is to not be subject to the “distractions or worldly influences finds contentment in living a simple life”. However, with the advent of Western yoga and “institutionalization” the process of yoga has been commodified. Marketers sell “self-improvement” for worldly gains and appeal to the tangible concrete world aspect of the conscience; the reason for somebody joining or buying is to get worldly gains. This is indeed the essence of the short-term approach, the one that leads to the spiraling down mode in Figure 5.2.

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Schrank (2014) looks at the effect of capitalism and the Western ideology of yoga as well. Right off the bat, it is acknowledged that the sense of true yoga being about “uniting the laboring body and spirit to a social warrant of corporate responsibility” has decreased and been replaced by the $10 billion dollar/year market on yoga-related products. She goes into more detail, looking into the literature of how America’s adoption and development of yoga has ripped its cultural and religious significance and turned it into a short-term, profit-gaining scheme of corporations. This supports our theory that spirituality and finding of the inner self to get away from the concrete world has in fact turned into a giant, concrete-world practice. We learn the following about the different types of yoga; the three main types (original, semi-original and modern yoga) are depicted in Figure 5.4. 1. Original yoga is about attaining connection to the “earth bearer” and focuses on the external, away from the desires and worldly gains, but from the point of the self. 2. Semi-original yoga, a term coined by us, is widely considered what the standard original concept of yoga was. The goal of this yoga is to achieve self-focus, aided by the ability of actions to direct the focus. This will allow for one to focus so much on the self (as in figure 5.2) that they perceive that in fact there is no god (things that please one’s self). Thus, it helps a person be able to have self-awareness, to look at everything from the bigger picture in the sense that small distractions and one-on-one interactions with being and people can be analyzed from a more “enlightened” perspective. Essentially, semi-original yoga theory devotes service to people and society having demolished self-interest by isolating everything else by focusing on your existence (EvansWentz, 2000; and Schrank, 2014). What this type of yoga does is create the “there is no god” realm. People may be able to disconnect from the world; however, it does not provide a solid base of trust or connection to an external being. In essence, it invokes the first part of the major premise, ‘There is no deity but Allah’. This is a step less than original yoga (which would be the complete major premise), but still very effective at humbling and submission (to nothing). 3. Modern yoga. This was developed from semi-original yoga, from the idea of the self being the center and there being no god. Instead of adopting this concept, the notion of the self being the god has been adopted, not for the sake of humility,

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering but for the sake of self-pride and obsession. They seem to have confused the “true self ” with the egotistic self, the egotistic self being an artificial version of the former. Karma yoga for example sees the difference being between ‘what can I do for myself?’ to ‘what can I do for you?’ Real “purposeful” actions are achieved by helping others. When karma is supposedly the driver behind actions, then there is no point of doing something for yourself if in the end it is bad for you (Marut, 2014). Self-centredness is the enemy and is battled constantly (QSD) by remembering and practicing to act as “nobody”. Modern yoga is simply a much shallower version of semi-original yoga. There is talk about it being opposite to the semi-original yoga in the sense that instead of humility, modern yoga is about the ego and consumerism after all. This is one of the possible cases. Another case is a milder one, where yoga is considered a ‘side’ activity or a retreat from the real life that has an effect on your overall life. No doubt, the actions and meditation has proven effective for several health problems (for physical and overall consciousness); however, such yoga does not go nearly as deep or devoted as classical yoga did. Classical yoga was about completely changing the life, returning it to its natural state, just like the word Dharma in Sanskrit or Deen in Arabic (both meaning natural trait, as opposed to ‘religion’). Of significance is the fact that Qur’an (3:19) calls this natural state to be Islam that is the lifestyle of choice for the entire mankind since the time of Adam – the first human. Modern yoga does not achieve the goal of life transformation or returning lifestyle to its natural state and annihilation of the ego nearly as much as semi-original or original yoga does.

Overall, the differences have an effect on cognition and perception, explained by reduction in mental health problems and improved perceived quality of life. We will go through medical literature to discuss yoga’s effectiveness in more detail, and conclude with a theory proposing how each of the yoga practices has an overall effect on the mind and cognition.

5.3.2 Yoga as an Intangible Treatment There is a lot of evidence that shows yoga to be beneficial for physical and mental health. In terms of depression, there is a body of literature that

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recognizes yoga’s beneficial effects. Health Harvard released a publication on this subject (Harvard Mental Health Publication, 2009). They mentioned that there is evidence for yoga alleviating the stress response. It also helps with mood problems and distress. Controlled breathing is also noted to have beneficial effects on depression remission. Overall, yoga is found to be beneficial for depression. A systemic review on the topic (Cramer et al., 2013) analyzed several RCTs and randomized crossover studies regarding patients with MDD. Studies included those with antidepressants, yoga, and both. They did not find significant results, which were similar to those of pharmacological treatment, group therapy, and other treatments. More importantly, a subgroup analysis found that only meditation-based yoga was shown to be more effective than the typical treatments. Furthermore, this did not have a great effect for quality of life or remission rates. They mentioned that results were the same for several different yoga types and mood disorders/depression. They concluded that it is effective, however, due to all but three RCTs being at high risk of bias, and low methodological quality4. Pilkington et al. (2005) conducted a review on evidence of yoga helping in depression. A summary of the studies showed low attrition rates, positive results for yoga-based breath control and relaxation techniques. One study found results similar to those of drug therapy but not as effective as ECT. Overall effects were found to be “potentially beneficial,” warranting further research on which types of yoga perform the best. da Silva et al. (2009) showed the same results, and notes that it is important to note there is possible publication bias, yoga and drug head-to- head trials are rare, and that poor methodology in trials is prevalent. A clinical inquiry section in the Journal of Family Practice by Skowronek et al. (2014) summed it up succinctly. Over three systematic reviews, it was found that symptom reduction ranged from 12-76%, an average of 39% “net reduction” of symptoms among the three. They also pointed out that there are no adverse effects and that yoga is effective at alleviating anxiety and stress. What is interesting is that studies that examined the types of yoga and their effectiveness in comparison to other types—Cramer et al., and more importantly a summary of reviews on the subject by Büssing and colleagues (2012)—found that the reflection and awareness-based yoga types have a more beneficial effect on the mental state (anxiety, depression, mood, etc.). Conceivably, asanas particularly have a positive effect on fitness and physical flexibility with a secondary effect on the mental state, while the pranayama [breathing techniques] practices and relaxation/meditation 4 They discuss the impact of bias on clinical trials when discussing effectiveness of omega-3 fatty acids on the treatment of depression.

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techniques may result in greater awareness, less stress, and higher wellbeing and quality of life. However, this remains to be shown in well-performed future studies. Table 5.1 shows their conclusions on yoga’s effect on several aspects of human health. We see that effects are positive for the mental and physical body; there is no sacrifice of one for the other. In other words, there is no puzzle-piece effect where several functions of the body are harmed in order to treat one small ailment: Related to modern yoga, there is a body of literature discussing meditation and reflection program therapies. These can be viewed as the other half of modern yoga, the part that solely takes the intangible pathway. We already discussed the relation of meditation and self-reflection (the original yoga) and connected it to psychology, now we will analyze the remnants of this beautiful type of yoga, the closest to the original we have today, albeit still a “side activity”, not making billions of dollars in profits. Marchand (2012) analyzed literature relating to mindfulness interventions. The main theory behind its mechanism is that one is perceiving how they view something, being able to “step back” from everyday activities and look at what they are doing from an objective, greater perspective (‘mindfulness’). This was found to be in line with studies analyzing meditation practices and so on. This reinforces the notion that the purpose of a part of semi-original yoga is to step back and reconsider. However, instead of attempting to achieve monk-hood or believing in karma or the Mahidhara, they have completely erased any external connection and only focused on the self. As discussed, this is the least productive of the yoga practices as the root (purpose) of meditation and reflection is detached from the action. Nevertheless, this is the closest we have. For now, it is a matter of Table 5.1 Effects of yoga. Specific effect

Unspecific effects

Cognition

Contemplative states; Mindfulness; Self-identity; Sdf-eflicacy; Beliefs; Expectations

Control of attentional networks

Emotions

Emotional control/regulation

Quality of Lite

Physiology

Vagal afferent activity; Heart rate/ Respiratory; Relaxation response/ Stress reduction

Social contacts

Physical body

Physical flexibility. Fitness/Endurance Healthy lifestyle

Specific and unspecific effects are often interconnected.

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seeing if such practices work, and how the results have an effect on the conscience. Zen meditation, for instance, has origins in Zen Buddhism; it is just sitting and suspending thinking and allowing thoughts and words and images to just pass by (Suzuki, 2011). In Zen Buddhism, zazen (literally “seated meditation”) is regarded as a means of insight into the nature of existence. Scientifically, it refers to ‘science of nature’. Not surprisingly, this same word is the root meaning of the word ‘physics’ as well as ‘true science’ (ilm in Arabic, as in what was Adam taught, Qur’an 2:31). Evidence shows that zazen increases pain tolerance, stress reduction, and reduction in cognitive decline with age. It is known to be effective for depressive and anxiety symptoms, PTSD, social anxiety disorder, insomnia and other disorders. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is effective in treating depression, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder and others. There are no methodological problems or small effect sizes found for most studies. In general, mindfulness practices had large effect sizes (0.97 and 0.95 in anxiety and depression respectively). Chambers et al. (2014) conducted a literature analysis into he effect of ‘mindful emotion regulation’ on depressed adolescents’ depression recovery. What made this type of therapy distinctive from the others, as they mentioned, is that this one focused on dealing with the problems coming at the person in opposition to other cognitive strategies avoiding or being isolated from the problems. Additionally, this type is observed to have more association with mental health. It also prevents possible risk of overisolation (“unwillingness to remain in contact with the present moment”). This seems to be the nearest type of cognitive strategy to yoga, being in the present moment and dealing with the problems in life. All they have done again, is disconnect the notion of an external cause, whether in this life or a next life. Regarding effectiveness, all studies/reviews overviewed have generally found that yoga and meditation are equal to, or have similar effectiveness to, antidepressant drugs. A Johns Hopkins University news release sums up the effect of yoga and meditation on depression (Website 3). That recent research tells us that even 30-40 minutes a day of such practices had moderate evidence of anxiety and depression improvement. They found that “meditation appeared to provide as much relief from some anxiety and depression symptoms as what other studies have found from antidepressants”. Note that this is from a review of 47 clinical trials including ~3500 patients in total. However, it seems there is an important issue not addressed or acknowledged in detail in typical review analyses. Firstly, perhaps the most important (and acknowledged by this article) is that there is virtually no danger to somebody doing yoga or meditation. Exclude the

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physical aspect, for mental health, one has a better consciousness, less cognitive impairment with aging, improved sleeping patterns, etc. This is a perfect representation of the puzzle-piece effect. Instead of hitting the body hard to get results while destroying other parts of the body, which is unsustainable, yoga gives the moral energy and tools, improving several other mental (and physical) problems. Second, antidepressants as we know, have a high dropout (due to ineffectiveness/intolerable side-effect-related) rate. For yoga, Rao et al. (2015) found that their dropout rates for a randomized controlled yoga program trial were only related to smaller issues such as hospital relocation, lack of interest, and time constraints (all of which are problems of non-devotion, nonexistent in real yoga). There is no real concern regarding side effects of yoga; of course there are only physical side effects, light injury really covers the vast majority. One should ask, even if modern yoga is being perceived as a short-term medication or typical therapy and consumer good5 and still has beneficial effects as antidepressants but without high dropout rates and mental and physical side effects, why are people not pursuing extended research into the properties of yoga the same way one may propose for a drug? Our answer would be the pharmaceutical industry complex model. The studies have also indicated beneficial effects for long-term use of non-pharmaceutical interventions in women with MDD. Over a 1-year follow- up study (Kinsera et al., 2014), they made a detailed analysis of 27 participants in two treatments, hatha yoga and health education, for 8 weeks with a follow-up period of 1 year; each day they went through a 75-minute yoga session. There were several demographic contols. The study did not seem to have a bias risk. All the women at the end declared they felt the benefits of yoga after treatment was discontinued. They came up with the following chart (Figures 5.5 and 5.6): It was observed that sustained treatment is more effective than one-time treatment, and long-term effects are positive. This is consistent with our theory. It should also be noted that this study if one of few that analyzed the long-term effects of yoga on depression. We end with their quote: This is important because it is rare that any intervention, pharmacologic or non-pharmacologic, for depression conveys such sustained effects for individuals with major depressive disorder, particularly after the treatment is discontinued. While numerous studies have shown the efficacy of antidepressant medications in preventing relapse and recurrence of depression, the antidepressant effects are not sustained once the medication is discontinued.

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The vast majority of studies find positive effects, and meta-analyses have a generally optimistic approach to yoga. The above study aids our theory that long-term yoga is definitely beneficial, and the more the better. So far it is established that more yoga is beneficial (long term and dose-wise); however we will go further in depth into the effect of depression on people with very high rates of yoga/cognitive therapy-like lifestyle in order to come to a conclusion. Currently, it seems that monks and religiously focused individuals are the best bet for finding the closest type of yoga/ salah to the original and semi-original yoga.

5.3.3

Semi-Original Yoga-Related Medical Evidence

For monks, we were able to find studies that looked at the prevalence/susceptibility of depression in monks; to our knowledge no meta-analyses exist on such a topic. Britton et al. (2014) discussed meditation and its relationship to depression/social life. They have nothing but praise (based on evidence) for meditation, as it decreases self-centeredness and increases help awareness and social cooperation. It was found that Buddhist monks have altruistic behavior that is related of course to their contemplative training, which has positive effects on empathy, increased social connections and relationships. Obeyesekere (1986) discussed depression and Buddhism in Sri Lanka. He engages in an interesting detailed discussion about the values of Sri Lankan and Buddhist people, and how Western medicine has ultimately used its own invention of depression based on Western values and imposed it on everyone else, essentially. In non-Western societies sorrow and meaninglessness of life are common and normal, but in the West, a diagnosis of “major depression” is imposed. Medical treatment cannot be attained without understanding the context (“varying sociocultural settings” pg. 150). This brings us into another dimension, the culture of people also has a role in diagnosis and treatment of disease. The author (as well as other authors in Kleinman and Good, 1986) proves that it is possible to attain levels of values of devotion to interfere with the common knowledge of depression. In other words, the intangible certainly rules the tangible (HAMD scores and antidepressants [i.e., Western medication] etc.) in terms of real versus observed depression (which it may not really be). Our theory extends this to the concept that the intangible controls the tangible, and that such intangible values/beliefs can change the inside mental well-being of a person. A final important neuroscientific study examines brain activity (“perceptual measures”) of Tibetan Buddhist monks using head-mounted display goggles; (Carter et al., 2005). Seventy-six Buddhist monks with varying experience were tested at their mountain retreats. The

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researchers found that trained meditators can “can measurably alter the normal fluctuations in conscious state induced by binocular rivalry and motion-induced blindness”. This tells us that meditation and self-devotion has a profound effect on emotion and thought control. This was what we were able to find on monks.

5.3.4 Religiosity and Depression For general religiosity, however, there are studies and meta-analyses that discuss the issue. There are certain measurements used, such as the “Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness and Spirituality,” “Religious Problem Solving Scale,” “Brief Religious Coping Scale” and others. Bush et al. (2012) looked at 66 older adults’ religiousness in comparison to depression, anxiety, spiritual well-being, and life satisfaction; all of which measures with scales. The 66 people who participated in CBT trials for anxiety or depression were over the age of 55. Results found that “daily spiritual experiences” predicted life satisfaction, spiritual well-being, and fewer depressive symptoms. Dervic et al. (2004) analyzed 371 depressed inpatients’ religious affiliation in relation to suicide attempts. About 80% had MDD and about 20% had bipolar disorder whilst depressed. N=305 reported religious affiliation. Demographic controls were put in place. In the case of religious affiliation, it was found that there was significant prevalence of suicide with non-affiliation to religion, and that religiously affiliated subjects were significantly less likely to engage in suicide; regardless of denomination, general religiosity showed such results. They said that though causality has not been established, “the effect of religious commitment on personal (mal)adjustment is stronger than the reverse”. Furthermore, other aspects of our theory match their findings relating to hopelessness and stress additional to depression: “This suggests that some positive aspect of religious affiliation overcame the negative effects of depression, stressful life events, and hopelessness. Perhaps this was also manifested in the presence of less suicidal ideation”. In terms of prevalence of depression in general, one large-scale study by Miller et al. (2002) looked at 3,356 adolescent girls’ depression prevalence and their associated religiosity and conservatism. They also looked at several characteristics; maturity (more mature girls are found to have more depression), age, and ethnicity. With all controls in place, it was found that out of the several factors to measure conservatism, personal devotion showed a lower depression risk for more mature women although in general there was a correlation. In conclusion, this was said about religiosity and depression,

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The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering Personal devotion and participation in religious community were more robustly associated with decreased risk for depression in highly mature girls than in non-highly mature girls. Previously established heritable contributions in females to both personal devotion (Kendler et al., 1997) and interpersonal sensitivity (Cyranowski et al., 2000; Silberg et al., 1999) supports the notion of biological maturation as contributing toward these developmental changes in personal devotion and religious participation in girls.

Braam et al. (2001) looked at the prevalence of religion in elderly Europeans in the EURODEP study. Over 8,000 participants were included across six centres in five countries for the purpose of this study. It was found that people who regularly attended church had lower depression prevalence, and that in general especially for women, it is good to have an environment that is religious or where religious ceremonies etc. are accessible. Inversely, depressive symptoms are observed to be higher in less religious patients. Clearly these studies demonstrate a role of depression and religiosity. The next few studies discussed look into efficacy of religious-based therapeutic treatment for depression. Although there is no established causality, it seems that religion plays a role in depression and symptoms, as well as suicide (as opposed to antidepressants that increase suicidality). We demonstrate how religion, the closest we have to original yoga and Salāt, can reduce depressive symptoms in people with depression.

5.3.5 Standard and Religious Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Evidence Behind Theory) Pearce et al. (2015) analyzes religion-based cognitive behavioral therapy (RCBT). They discuss that religious-integrated CBT works the same way; however, it attaches the root of a person’s core beliefs to the therapy.6 They initially demonstrate how the Bible and Qur’an encourage people to rethink and change before expecting help, which are similar to the notion of CBT’s principles of teaching people how to re-iterate thinking. This is also found in Hinduism (true yoga?): “Let him a (wise man) sit intent on Me (God) . . .” (Bhagavad Gita ch. 2, v. 61), which is also the case in Buddhism. In RCBT, people are taught to be their own “scientists” in examining their thoughts. Specifically, the core CBT principles are integrated as follows: 6

They are partially reattaching the root to something that should already have a root, then calling it improvement. It is very similar to constructing non-linear equations after initially linearizing it (Khan and Islam, 2016).

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The first step, “A,” stands for the Activating event and is used to describe the situation that occurred around the time the negative emotions began. The second step, “B,” stands for Beliefs, and involves identifying the thoughts that went through the clients’ minds as a result of the activating event. The third step, “C,” stands for Consequences, of which there are two types: emotional and behavioral. This ABC process is the basic premise of conventional CBT.

Essentially what is being done in this type of therapy is the integration of religion into the CBT therapy. However, the CBT therapy still serves as the standard7; religion is being used to encourage the person to better achieve the CBT. They mention that this is then used to filter out negative beliefs of a person. It encourages people to use their religious beliefs (such as the ones quoted above) to develop ways to deal with negative perceptions. Slowly but surely, they built up a routine: choose passages from text, analyze slowly each verse and find the most inspiring to them, read them multiple times and reflect, then record thoughts and reflections in a journal. They incorporate all of the passages and principles of religion that suit the purposes of the cognitive behavioral therapy, essentially: “For example, most world religions encourage forgiveness, gratitude, generosity, and altruism, each of which is addressed in RCBT”. These beliefs play a role in the CBT to combat depression. For instance in Islam, a verse such as this “Allah does not impose upon any soul a duty but to the extent of its ability” (2:286) may be used by the patient to combat negative beliefs or hopelessness or unconscionable thought. In the end, they came up with “manuals” that incorporate each religion’s principles for the person to read and become inspired by. This helps standardize several identified general problems associated with depression and combats them head on. Also, certain passages and discussions may take place in the manual that address certain values known to help with depression, such as altruism and generosity, forgiveness, and hope. It is noted that so far, intervention studies have found that incorporation of religious and spiritual beliefs is certainly effective, “is as or more effective” than regular therapy. This was important to discuss before looking into studies and reviews, to get a brief understanding of the mechanisms and core principles RCBT works by. Bonelli et al. (2012) conducted a review of contemporary research on the issue of religious and spirituality factors in depression. Two systematic reviews constitute the bulk of their 7

“They then need to learn how to integrate clients’ religious beliefs and practices effectively, sensitively, and ethically into the CBT model”.

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observations. Religious affiliation, religious involvement as factors were discussed, with implications for depression and suicide, and explanations of results. Religious affiliation analyses found that people of Jewish descent (especially non-religious ones), Pentecostals, and people of no religious affiliation had higher rates of depression. In terms of religious and spiritual involvement, it was found that “Overall, of the 444 total studies, 272 (61%) found less depression, faster recovery from depression, or a reduction in depressive symptoms in response to an R/S intervention, whereas 28 studies (6%) found the opposite.” After methodological analysis, 69% were noted to have the former result, whilst only 7% found the latter. Regarding suicide, they found it no surprise that in Finland, where 80% of suicides are related to recent life events (and with one of the highest suicide rates in the world), that religious involvement is associated with a decreased suicide rate. This can be attributed to the fact that it leads to less depression, anger and hostility, substance abuse, family and social support, etc. We have established that religious integration in cognitive behavioral therapy, as well as overall religiosity, is associated with better recovery from depression than not, and has lower depression prevalence. Now it is a matter of analyzing the impact it has in comparison to normal cognitive behavioral therapy and its implications. Koenig (2012) looks at empirical findings that discuss this issue. He discusses how a major problem with conventional therapy for depression is that many feel their religious beliefs contradict psychotherapy; many find it “unsympathetic” to their beliefs. They may also believe that it is somehow limiting to religion to accept psychotherapy as a treatment. In fact, they state that it has been hard to involve the religious community members (especially clerics), because of open negative attitudes to psychotherapy, as well as health professionals’ possible negative view of incorporating religious beliefs into treatment for depression. This is despite overwhelming evidence that religion can even be the primary factor causing a depressed person to continue living (45%), and the general optimistic and antidepressant psychological effects that it has. Neuroscience studies show that they have a general “happy” effect on the brain and tolerance/coping with stress. Additionally, there is some evidence showing that religiosity has positive effects on stress regulation by the endocrine (hormone) and immune systems. Positive effects of religious psychotherapy on immune and endocrine regulation is proposed to even be more effective than conventional therapy. When examining the effects of typical and religious CBT, it was noted that they both revolve around core principle of CBT (as mentioned earlier) that depression is often associated with a negative worldview, and that perception is targeted by CBT in general. Randomized clinical trials

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have shown that religious CBT is more effective than general CBT, and that in therapy sessions where religion was incorporated, better recovery results were reported (“especially in religious patients”). This is aided by the notion that the majority (77-83%) of patients age 55 and older wanted to incorporate religion, and only 18% expressed not wanting to discuss religion, in the United States (Stanley et al., 2011). We have found other recent clinical trials that do head-to-head trials of religious CBT and conventional CBT. Berk et al. (2015) analyzed pro-/ anti-inflammatory indicators and stress hormones in people with the two types of therapy in 172 patients with major depressive disorder (the type often treated by antidepressants). It was found that in people with high religiosity, RCBT had a better effect in reducing stress biomarkers than conventional cognitive behavioral therapy (CCBT), but a less significant effect on people with low religiosity. Koeing et al. (2015) performed a randomized clinical trial on 132 participants with major depressive disorder and analyzed the effects of CBT and RCBT. It is noted in the brief literature review that it has been found that religiously accommodated therapy showed slightly better signs of improvement than secular therapy in a meta-analysis (n=3290), and other studies found that religiously/spiritually incorporated cognitive therapy showed at least equal effectiveness in depression treatment. Therapy was 12 weeks long, with 10 50-minute sessions. Therapeutic alliance was observed to initially increase in RCBT over CCBT, but then even out, causing levels to be more or less equal. Possible discussed interpretations could be guilt or anxiety caused by feelings that religion was being mixed with therapy (due to religious interventions), which was also thought to be an explanation to a similar previous trial. Note that TA (therapeutic alliance) looks at the measure of a person’s alliance/closeness to the therapist. Perhaps it is possible that the root of depression to the therapist does not matter for depression, but it is the external root. A cleric or manual (standard religious book) may increase general therapeutic alliance with the external being, causing the patient to attain true re-rooting (reconnection), the loss of which caused the depression. If we are testing our ‘external root’ theory, it does not seem logical to measure the attachment of a person to their therapist. A systematic review and meta-analysis was done by Anderson et al. (2015) on reports on “faith adapted psychological interventions” in adolescent (16+) depressed patients or patients with anxiety. Sixteen articles were included; most looked at depression+controls and/or depression+CBT (standard CBT) that looked at faith-based tharapies of the following religions: Christianity (5), Spiritual (2), Muslim (4), Jewish (1), and Taoist (1).

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Although there is concern for bias and not many relevant RCTs, there was a statistically significant effect size. Main findings showed that faith-based CBT outperforms standard CBT and control conditions, and the same goes for anxiety studies. These findings are acknowledged to be in line with several meta-analyses on the same subject. A rare long-term study on the effects of prayer on depression was performed by Boelens et al. (2012). Depression, anxiety, and positive emotions were analyzed after one year of “person-to-person prayer”. Six one-hour-long weekly prayer sessions were conducted with 44 women. Depression, anxiety, and positive emotions were measured at the time and after a month, and later a year. After both follow-ups, there was “significantly less depression and anxiety, more optimism, and greater levels of spiritual experience than did the baseline (pre-prayer) measures (p < 0.01 in all cases)”. In fact there is another body of literature that discusses prayer as an alternate therapy for coping with depression. Knabb (2012) introduces the concept of prayer for Christians coping with depression. He discusses core concepts of cognitive therapy and Buddhist principles accommodated in it first, and then connects it to prayer. It is worth noting that as Islam et al. (2010) stated, Buddhist teachings are very close to original yoga’s and Islam’s. Namely, Buddha is known to be the ‘awakened one’ and not a god, and the concept of karma, cause and effect of actions, is also present. Of course general important Buddhist teachings of interest are that “life is suffering”, “the cause of suffering is desire” which can be conquered through the eightfold path, which involves a lot of Islamic teaching, such as right through (cognition) and speech and actions, mindfulness, and meditation (salah). When connecting to Christian prayer, ‘centering prayer’ is the core therapeutic treatment of prayer. Its principles are very similar to our notion of connecting to the external (Mahidhara): “In centering prayer we are going beyond thought and image, beyond the senses and the rational mind, to that center of our being where God is working a wonderful work”. One main difference between original yoga (salah) and entering prayer, is that centering prayer’s sole purpose is not to connect to God, but to focus on semi-original yoga’s purpose of seeking the individual, just inserting the presence of God in the main concept of semi-original yoga. Instead of establishing a godly connection, they are establishing self-connection with the “wonderful work” of God; the root is still attached, although it will be interesting to see how a dogmatized version of semi-original yoga performed in the clinical world (some of which was already discussed), and what it means.

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Wachholtz and Sambamthoori (2013) analyzed the use of prayer among people with depression from the period 2002-2007. In the introduction, it is interesting to see that they established through several studies that better mental health and lower depression is associated with religiosity, especially when the person is internally motivated to do so, through ‘private prayer’ (Koeing et al., 1997; Ai et al., 2002). Overall it was found that prayer was an effective tool for alleviating depressive symptoms in the short term, and especially in the long term if continued. The study had a sample size of about 27,000 in 2002 and about 20,000 in 2001, the dependent variable analyzed being prayer and depression, independent variables being several demographics and life habits (such as smoking and exercising). For almost all people, the ‘prayed and lower depression’ criterion had gone up from 2002 to 2007. Overall, prayer as a treatment for health concerns had gone up in the general population, even for those with health insurance. Bottom line: prayer is no stranger to depression, even in developed countries in the modern world. Andrade and Radhakrishnan (2009) did a review of randomized controlled trials of people using prayer as a treatment for depression. Off the bat they mention that prayer has been used for healing for millennia, for good health and sickness relief. It has been shown that prayer has beneficial effects on the mental body and physical mind. They put the issue of prayer and its benefits nicely, Although the very consideration of such a possibility may appear scientifically bizarre, it cannot be denied that, across the planet, people pray for health and for relief of symptoms in times of sickness. Healing through prayer, healing through religious rituals, healing at places of pilgrimage and healing through related forms of intervention are wellestablished traditions in many religions.

The purpose of reviewing this article was to establish that although it is not conventional or even considered ‘scientific’, things that can heal the human body, physically and mentally, should all be considered as prospective treatments. Kalhor et al. (2014) performed a study on 303 university students of the Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences by giving them three-part questionnaires analyzing their demographic questions and religiosity, and comparing that to physical symptoms, anxiety and sleep disorders, social dysfunction, and depression. It was found that there was an inverse correlation between age and mental health (older = better mental condition), when other demographics were accounted for. When analyzing religious

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beliefs, it was found that it can be a “constructive factor in achieving mental health in students”, this being consistent with several psychological principles of religion hypothesized to aid mental health. Sahraian et al. (2013) reported a more interesting study in the sense that it acknowledges to an extent our theory of having a root, a “god” to rely on in difficult situations. As they put it, “Secure relation to God and having goals and meanings in life may be a supportive way in problematic life events, so religious people can handle life stress more effective than others”. They analyzed the religious attitudes and depression scales of 750 students of the Shiraz University of Medical Science. They used Ghobari’s Religious Attitude Scale (GRAS) and a typical depression scale; the Beck Depression Scale I. The results showed that there was a significant correlation between depression and religiosity; there were less depressive symptoms in those that were more religious. Females were more likely to have depression; however, they were more religious, and we know that generally females have higher depression rates than men (above studies). Mogharab et al. (2009) analyzed the relationship between regular prayer and depression in 400 university students at the Birjand University of Medical Sciences. Their results and conclusion were the same as the previous article’s (and other studies’); encouraging prayer and religiosity can “relieve mood and emotional problems” and make education more effective.

5.3.6 Intangible Natural Treatments vs. Artificial Treatments A review of cognitive behavioral therapy as a treatment for depression was done by Parker et al. (2003). They tell us that it is a “widely accepted treatment”; however, because each person is unique, even for specific types of depression where trials were conducted, it was not enough evidence to apply one treatment for a whole audience. However, results seem to show comparable overall efficacy; there are no significant results showing improvement or reduction in relapse rates with either drug. A meta-analysis by Cuijpers et al. (2013) examined the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy on adults with depression, alone and in comparison to other treatments; this served as an ‘updated’ meta-analysis as there is no recent meta-analysis on the topic of CBT as a treatment for adult depression. Analysis was conducted of 115 studies. When analyzing CBT effectiveness compared directly to pharmacotherapy (20 studies), “no significant overall difference in outcome between these 2 types of treatment” were found. Depending on methodological factors, CBT can be as or more effective than other types of psychotherapy (evidence that only this type of therapy need be examined and used as a model).

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In addition, Hofmann et al. (2012) in their review of meta-analyses, mention that similar effects can be seen in medication and CBT treatments in the case of chronic depression. In OCD it is worth mentioning that CBT was found to have significantly better outcomes in children. Rush et al. (2004) looked at the rationale and design behind the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)’s study “Sequenced treatment alternatives to relieve depression (STAR*D)” that looks into alternative treatments for depression. It is large-scale and has 4,000 participants; adults of all ages with major depressive disorder. Several treatment options and options to switch treatments were given; there were four major steps in which different combinations were used. The trial compared several types of antidepressants, cognitive therapy (CBT included), and of course different combinations of both categories and within the categories. A review paper by Sinyor and colleagues (2010) overviewed the results behind the STAR*D trial. They noted that “no statistically significant differences in remission rates were found when comparing different treatments in the same treatment level”.

5.3.7 Conclusion of Intangible Treatments We have gone over several individual trials and reviews regarding the issue of cognitive behavioral therapy, yoga, and religious cognitive behavioral therapy (and variants). We also looked into the prospect of religion particularly being a tool of defense against the prevalence of depression, as well as a useful tool to counter depression. In fact, RCBT is as at least as effective as standard CBT, if not better. We also know that standard CBT is an effective treatment, as is yoga. Results show that yoga can be as effective as antidepressants; as for CBT, we lean towards the same conclusion as it is the standard psychotherapy for depression and proven to be effective whilst yoga is only at a developmental stage in research8. Already, we see that there are several ways to intangibly treat depression as effectively (or more so) than antidepressant pills. It is already a surprise that the medical community has not shifted their research efforts towards these much better treatments. ’Better’ because even according to dogma scientists they are just as good or better, and cost less and have no physical or mental side effects. In the meantime the majority of the medical community is simply ignoring research in this very promising field. 8

Also considering that CBT is as effective as yoga. Also RCBT is as effective as CBT, which is as effective as yoga, which all have similar effectiveness as antidepressants, and without the physical and psychological side effects.

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However, it is important to realize that this is not the best we can do. Our research proposes that although treatments like yoga and CBT are effective, they still lack the theoretical ‘root’ described in the first section. There is no research today on the effects of reconnecting this root to depression treatments. We only know that it must be much better than the psychological mode, as it is the only way to directly tackle the key source of depression, helplessness caused by fear.

5.4 Tangible Treatments for Depression We will now examine the prospect of physical treatments for depression— naturally occurring medicine.

5.4.1 Saint John’s Wort Overview Perhaps the most popular drug used today is the standard extract of the drug St. John’s wort (SJW) (Hypericum perforatum), having a sharp increase in over-the-counter use in the United States in the 21st century (Anderson et al., 2002; Wu et al., 2014). St John’s wort has a 2,000-year history of use as a medicinal herb, long before FDA started to approve new drugs (Vorbach et al., 2000). This herb’s use dates back to the ancient Greeks and it is noted that Pedanios Dioskourides (from the first century AD), as well as from his contemporary physicians Galinos and Plenius, Greek and Roman respectively, made use of the herb for treatment of mental conditions (Barnes et al., 2009). In his treatise, Paracelsus (1493-1541), the famous Swiss alchemist and physician, also mentioned using the St. John’s wort (Beauchamp et al., 2009). It is not clear if Muslim medical researchers were involved in using St. John’s wort, but it is evident that St. John’s wort fulfills all the requirements of a natural drug that can be applied for treating depression as well as being a cognition enhancer (Ben-Eliezer and Yechiam, 2016). There have been several trials looking at the efficacy of SJW. Before examining all the research, it should be noted that there are clear grounds for researchers and the general medical community to be wary of natural medications (Girard et al., 2011). We must always keep in mind that there is likely a negative bias when it comes to natural, physical treatments. One ironic example is on the National Institutes of Health website on the topic (Website 4), they claim that, St. John’s wort is not a proven therapy for depression. Do not use St. John’s wort to replace conventional care or to postpone seeing your

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health care provider. Inadequately treated depression may become severe and, in some cases, may be associated with suicide. Consult a health care provider if you or someone you know may be depressed.” [bold not added]

It should be noted that the same “conventional care” (in which pharmeceutical medicine is an option) they speak about, also has a clear warning on the NIH page. The page on Prozac (website 5) has a long warning at the top of the page, warning that fleuoxene (Prozac - main brand name) can cause suicidal behavior in a small number of kids who were observed in clinical trials. St. John’s wort is free from such side effects, as revealed by numerous publications (e.g., Sarker et al., 2015). Regarding the mechanism of action, the NIH site notes that the theory behind SJW may prevent the reuptake of serotonin and dopamine (NCCIH Report, 2015) although they are only preliminary results. Schmidt and Butterwck (2015) published an updated overview on the possible mechanisms of action of SJW in the treatment of depression. The authors noticed a general pattern amongst the medical community in trying to find the mechanism of action behind an already proven effective treatment (they would say the same thing about mainstream artificial drugs if it were not taboo). It was also noted that these several studies and theories “only highlight[ed] certain aspects of a complex clinical picture”. That’s what we said about artificial drugs! Although there are some researched factors such as neurotransmitter regulation and ion channel conductance, based on the knowledge we have, the only difference between SJW and artificial drugs is that SJW is a natural remedy, not artificial. So what’s the difference? One is from nature and designed to interact with the body (like a puzzle piece), whereas artificial drugs artificially program the brain and by default must destroy the puzzle-piece system. Figure 5.7 shows how artificial medicines are misfits in an organic system and behave in such a way that the misfit puzzle that is responsible for triggering an ailment cannot be remedied and continues to trigger reaction from an organic system. It is so because an organic system doesn’t recognize artificial chemicals and continues to ‘fight it’ with antibodies that treat the remnant (dark spot in the bottom picture) of the chemical drug like an antigen. In previous volumes of this book series, we have established that natural products behave oppositely to artificial products. In nanoscale, reactivity increases and therefore the divergence between natural and artificial particles gains momentum. This becomes even more intense when it comes to the molecular level. This divergence is similar to organic and non-organic or living or dead object. Figure 5.8 shows how the direction of a natural

Review: St John’s wort superior to placebo and similar to antidepressants for major depression but with fewer side effects

Systematic review and metaanalysis of 29 randomized, controlled, double-blind trials comparing SJW extracts to a placebo of standard antidepressant in people with major depression. Several factors including risk of bias was included.

The discussion twists the results to show that 6, ‘larger and better’ trials showed only minimal results of SJW extracts over a placebo for major depression. See case #2 and #3 for a specialized inquiry into major depression. The conclusion made is opposite to data, and based on ‘belief ’: “We believe that the heterogeneous findings of placebocontrolled trials of these extracts are partly due to an overestimation of their effects in smaller, older studies…”.

Final comments

There are no competing interests, results SJW extracts performed betand conclusion are the same. This is an ter than a placebo, with update of case #1. similar effectiveness to standard antidepressants. People dropping out b/c of adverse events were the same whether people took a placebo or SJW. SJW is safer and had less people dropping out due to adverse effects.

All but three (21/24) placebo “Systematic review and metacontrolled trials showed analysis of 37 doubleblind randomised controlled results favouring SJW trials” that compared SJW extract. In trials comparing to a placebo or standard SJW extracts to standard antidepressant in adults with antidepressants, 8 trials favoured SJW and 5 depressive disorders. favoured standard antidepressants. SJW extracts had less reported adverse effects.

St John’s wort for depression Meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Results and conclusions of the study

Features of the study

Title

Table 5.2 Summary of Solomon (2001) study.

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St John’s wort For Depression: An Overview And Meta-Analysis Of Randomised Clinical Trials

A meta-analysis of 6 randomized, double-blind trials comparing SJW extracts to a placebo or TCA antidepressant in people with mild-moderately severe depression.

Results and conclusions match.

The conclusions notes that these resilts SJW users had a lower were less significant than those in dropout rate than placebocase #4. This could be because of the takers and performed better smaller sample size, that too with bad than a palcebo. Dropout methodological quality (as admitted was significantly lower for SJW users than TCA users, by them). HAM-D improvement for TCA users was similar to that of SJW users.

St. John’s wort for An overview and meta- analy- HAM-D scored were slightly depression: a sis of 37 randomized clinical better in those who took meta-analysis of trials that compared SJW SJW than standard antidewell-defined cliniextracts to a placebo or stanpressants. There were less cal trials. dard antidepressant. drop-outs due to adverse effects in those who took SJW than placebo-takers and standard depressant takers.

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Misfit puzzle

Artificial replacement

Figure 5.7 Chemical drugs are not recognized by an organic system as anything more than antigens.

particle and its ‘orbit’ is opposite to that of an artificial particle. Unless longterm analysis is done, it is not possible to observe the difference between these two types. Such observation is necessary in order to determine the true impact of a medication. To date, all research investigation and metaanalyses are more concerned about the short-term impacts that are little more than safety analysis. As such, these trials are ill positioned to make a useful commentary on the long-term impact of any medication. Jurcic et al. (2007) conducted a double-blind randomized controlled trial of SJW in comparison to paroxetine9. Two hundred fifty-one patients with non-psychotic, unipolar, recurrent moderate to severe depression episodes, from 21 care facilities in Germany were included in the trial. The doses were 900mg/d for SJW vs. 20mg/d of paroxene for 6 weeks. They were tested through HAM-D, Montgomery-Åsburg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). This was a very well-designed study. The results reported a larger decrease in HAM-D scores for SJW than for paroxene, although results are interpreted as “at

9

This is used by the brandname antidepressant drug Paxil, an SSRI class drug.

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Natural direction

Artifical direction

Figure 5.8 Natural and artificial both act the same way, except for the time function (from Islam and Mokhatab, 2017)

least as effective” (look at the wording!10). Also, more people responded, 70% vs 60% for the SJW group; also 50% vs 35% for the SJW and paroxene group showed remission, respectively (note that this is short term). The MADRS and BDI scores consistently showed a larger decrease in depression for the SJW group. Regarding adverse effects, it was clear that pyroxene had a higher occurrence rate of adverse effects: 55% vs 76% occurrence rate for SJW and pyroxene populations, respectively. Regarding adverse events, 176 were reported by the former population, and 269 were reported in the latter. That is about 50% more side effects reported by the pyroxene group. Also, the adverse effects were more severe in the former than the latter: dry mouth, fatigue, and headache vs. dry mouth, dizziness, and diarrhea. The latter population reported a neurological effect (dizziness) and a digestive problem. The SJW group only reported slight physical abnormalities. A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial of St. John’s wort vs. Fleuoxene was conducted by Fava et al. (2005). They looked at the

10 If it were pyroxene being compared to SJW, SJW being the mainstream, money-making drug, then the results would say: Paroxene performed slightly worse than SJW, and the adverse effects were more severe and common in the parozene group. We recommend staying with SJW as a standard treatment for physicians.

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HAM-D depression scores before and after 20mg/d fleuoxene treatment and 900mg/d of SJW treatment for 12 weeks after a 1-week washout period. This longer-term treatment session ended in results that there was significantly higher remission observed in the SJW group than in the fleuoxene group. The side effects were ‘safe and well tolerated’ for the SJW group. A longer-term analysis, 26-weeks long, by Sarris et al. (2012) looked at the condition of 124 patients with major depressive disorder before and after 900-1500mg/d of SJW and 50-100mg/d of sertaline11. It was found that at the end of the last week, HAM-D scored were averaged 6.6 (+/- 4.5) for the SJW group and 7.1 (+/-5.4) in the sertaline group, thereby the first was more effective (but non-significant). The same was found for other scores. Both were therapeutically effective. Of course not all trials have this sort of outcome; for instance there were two NCCIH- and NIMH-funded trials that found contrary (negative) results (Website 5), even proposing that SJW did not even perform better than a placebo. As we will see, this conclusion is largely outnumbered, and the fact that the trials concluded with the second remark about the placebo tells us that there must be some sort of methodological deformity or other abnormality. There are meta-analyses and reviews that address the topic of the efficacy of Saint john’s wort in treating depression. We will analyze five reviews; see Table 5.2 for a brief summary of each case. Review #1: this review’s results support evidence in favor of SJW as an effective antidepressant, with the possible exception of the issue of major depressive disorder in which there was stated to be weaker evidence in favor of SJW efficacy in treating it. This finding was later corrected, following an update of the review (review #4); a meta-analysis specifically dedicated to analyzing results of trials in which SJW was compared to a placebo and to standard antidepressants. These results show consistency with another meta-analysis (review #3), that also analyzes trials in which SJW was compared to a placebo or standard antidepressants in those with major depression. For some reason the authors have twisted around the results found and what is concluded. The results were clearly consistent with other large, meta-analyses (see reviews #2-4); however, the conclusion states that the results are somehow ‘mixed’. The reason for this is their observation that older, lower-quality studies showed evidence for people with mild-moderate depression being affected, but not for those with major depression. This misconception was later corrected in the updated

11

Used in the brandname ‘Zoloft’ and other SSRI antidepressants.

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study. Unfortunately, hundreds have cited the case, many of course using it as evidence that SJW treatments are not definitively proven. Review #2: This review is an updated study of case #1, specifically focusing on patients with major depression. Here any confusion about SJW being ineffective for major depression is cleared up. Again, the efficacy of SJW in treating depression is reconfirmed. Review #3: Linde et al. (1996) performed an older meta-analysis on the same issue. Even back then, the results show positive findings in favor of SJW efficacy for depression. Review #4: This appears to be a rebuttal of Linde et al. (1996), with a section dedicated to its criticism. No doubt, the results (which are positive, see Table 5.2) were given the least weight possible in the conclusion, amid the criticism regarding trial methodology. For instance, subtheraputic doses were considered to be used for the TCA antidepressant dose, although the TCAs appeared to be more effective then expected. These types of problems may have been straightened out with a reasonable amount trials; Linde (1996) analyzed 37 trials, this review only analyzed six. Solomon (2001) notes that “this may reflect the lack of universal consensus on how the effects of ADs should be measured in primary care, as well as dosage levels commonly used in clinical care”. Table 5.2 shows main features and conclusions of these trials. Nevertheless, there are now trials involving thousands of patients in three, newer meta-analyses that show SJW being clearly more effective than a placebo and with similar results to that of standard antidepressants (SSRIs and TCAs). Let’s also not forget that it takes only two trials to get an artificial drug approved by the FDA. In the meantime, SJW treatments are treated like some sort of herbal, mysterious, ancient, unconfirmed treatment due to some trials claiming “complex” results, as we saw in the conclusion of Review #1.

5.4.1.1 Side Effects Side effects are consistently reported less than standard antidepressants, either by measuring the number of drop-outs due to intolerable adverse effects, or generally reported adverse effects. This section goes through some possible side effects, and some possibly severe side effects and how those severe side effects may be mitigated/dealt with effectively. It was already acknowledged and shown in trials and other reports (see introduction for some, for instance, Jurcic et al., 2007) that the side effects are less common in those who take St. John’s wort than other SSRIs. We also know that it is observed that SJW users’ reported side

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effects have a common profile to those taking a placebo (Ernst et al., 1998). In fact, Several recent meta-analyses, a clinical trial, and an observational trial have concluded that the rates of adverse effects of St. John’s wort are about 1 to 3 percent, which is comparable to those of placebo and less than that of standard antidepressant treatment (Kaustubh et al., 2005). As with other drugs, we will examine an online database for the St. John’s Wort oral capsule or tablet, that lists and discusses common, rare, and extremely rare/speculated side effects. We have to again keep in mind that herbs will be considered especially sensitive. The medical community, as we know, has a tendency to see holistic medicine and especially herbal treatments as dangerous—at least much more than engineered drugs. Common side effects include gastrointestinal problems (nausea, abdominal pain, loss of apetite and diarrhea), as well as other physical prblems such as dry-mouth, fatigue, and headache. Possible neurological effects are dizziness, confusion, and restlessness. Rare side effects include sunburn after being outdoors. There is literature that discusses the possibility of St. John’s wort causing relapse (mania) in some people with bi-polar disorder: “might bring on psychosis in some people with schizophrenia”, and might “contribute to dementia” in those with Alzheimer’s disease. It’s important to find the hard evidence backing up the statements. One example of such proposed evidence is the report of Nierenberg et al. (1999) who analyzed two cases of people who had worsened symptoms after taking St John’s wort. Mr. A presented in the case (of two cases) has the following story: Mr. A., a 20-year-old unmarried college student, presented to psychiatric care feeling depressed and irritable, with multiple neurovegetative symptoms consistent with major depression. He was anhedonic and reported recurrent thoughts about death, with passive suicidal ideation. These symptoms had worsened over the previous 2 months, leading to severe school difficulties and an inability to hold a part-time job. There were no clear precipitating stressors. He was medically well and denied the use of any illicit drugs. Although he admitted to drinking two beers a day, he did not have signs of substance abuse or dependence. With further inquiry, a history of a previous episode consistent with mania (for which he had not received treatment) was obtained. Following an unremarkable laboratory work-up and a normal magnetic resonance imaging study of the head, he was diagnosed with a major depressive episode of bipolar disorder. Mr. A. and his family initially deferred treatment, requesting a week for reflection. During that time, his mother obtained a preparation of St. John’s wort and suggested that he try something “natural” before taking a medication. He took two tablets (150 mg of St. John’s wort herb extract plus 0.2 %

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hypericum) three times daily. After 3 days, he developed extreme agitation, irritability, pressured speech, pacing, and anxiety. He felt full of energy and did not need to sleep. On the third day of St. John’s wort, he forced a group of friends to drive him around the city after midnight, stating that he had to buy a cat. His uncle (who has a history of bipolar disorder) described Mr. A. as “manic.” He was persuaded to return to the clinic and, at that point, was instructed to discontinue St John’s wort. Lithium (450 mg daily) and clonazepam for insomnia and anxiety were started. One week later, he continued to feel “powerful and productive” with a sense of euphoria and intermittent irritability. The dose of lithium was raised to 450 mg twice daily, and within one week Mr. A. became euthymic, and his school performance normalized. He continues to take lithium at that dose with good effect. Cannabis followed by cigarettes would have a similar impact. Organic wine followed by spirits would have similar impact. Bottom line: you have not pinpointed the cause of the problem. Perhaps St. John’s wort was able to address the cause of the problem (homeopathy), and deteriorated the short-term condition of the person. The following case is an example of St. John’s wort trying to cure the disease and acting as it normally would, but facing an enormous reaction from the body—as if a chain smoker was taken off smoking and given natural medicine—because her body was programmed. In our discussion of the long-term effects of artificial drugs (previous part addressing the problem with artificial drugs), we noted that drugs have an infinite effect on the body, and that the body will get used to the artificial12. Mrs. B., a 51-year-old married secretary, first presented psychiatrically at age 26 with an episode of psychotic mania well treated with lithium and haloperidol. She continued on lithium monotherapy until age 41 without affective symptoms. Over the past decade, she remained stable without any psychotropic medication. One week before her current presentation, however, she began to feel “stressed” and “depressed.” Additional symptoms of major depression were absent at that time. On the advice of her sister, she began to take St. John’s wort 300 mg three times daily. Within a few days, she felt “speeded up” and felt compelled to take several purposeless trips throughout the city. Her boss noted her to be “increasingly bizarre” over the course of the week. On the day before admission, her husband

12

As noted by Andrews 2015, although they only addressed the short term: a few weeks instead of a life-time.

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described her as “hallucinating” and “talking nonsense,” and he eventually convinced her to come to the hospital. Note that the authors themselves admitted that these cases are in no way definitive. Even then, they have the audacity to say that “risk of hypericum-induced mania may be significant” in the conclusions section of the abstract. This report is similar to other reports such as Joshi and Faubion (2005). It’s worth noting that 3/4 cases cited as evidence directly refuting the notion that SJW is “safe because of their natural origin”, include people with a situation similar to that of Mrs. B, above. The other case is of a 20-year-old male, whose uncle was diagnosed with biopolar disorder, who started to have psychotic symptoms regarding his pet cat. He was taken off SJW and put on lithium. After seven more days of lithium treatment, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder himself. Two important points: 1) 20 years of age is the prime time for bipolar diagnoses: at least half of cases are diagnosed before age 25 (Kessler et al., 2005). 2) it well could have been the lithium he took for seven days (and after diagnosis) that propelled temporary bad effects of SJW into a ‘bad direction’ trajectory. It’s also important to see that these cases happen three days after SJW use, making it even more possible that this is a common pattern with certain people taking SJW: temporary bad symptoms. It’s these kinds of studies that cause the NIH to conclude things such as, “St. John’s wort might bring on psychosis in some people with schizophrenia”. In summary, we find that with the exception of people already on drugs13, or those who are used to artificial psychotic treatment (or other potentially dangerous treatment that would conflict with SJW treatment), may experience light, physical side effects and rarely, gastrointestinal side effects. For the vast majority of people this drug is safe. We recommend an extended program of our proposed psychotherapy to tackle the root, accompanied by SJW after original integration to natural treatment, starting off with a small dose, and getting progressively bigger as the patient gets used to it.

5.4.1.2

Cost Effectiveness of St. John’s Wort

Apparently, there is a lot of restraint coming from large investors (that could possibly make the drug mainstream) due to the notion that SJW as a drug may be cost inefficient (Solomon et al., 2011). There is, however, 13

They could possible endure an adverse drug reaction. Drugs.com lists 152 major drug interactions, including potentially fatal serotonin syndrome: http://www.drugs.com/druginteractions/st-john-s-wort-index.html?filter=3&generic_only=

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newer, stronger evidence proposing that SJW is a more cost-effective treatment than leading antidepressant medications. Cost effectiveness of a drug measures the drug’s effectiveness (measures in deaths saved or life-years gained) compared to its cost, the best ‘bang for the buck’. Costs can be direct, so drug costs, medical staff costs, etc. There can be productivity costs, so loss in time (generally). Finally there are intangible costs: pain and suffering, adverse effects. We should keep in mind that SJW is not a drug but a herbal extract, so R&D costs and artificial production do not play a role. Hence, it would be much cheaper to obtain SJW if pharmaceutical companies didn’t hold a monopoly on it. Regarding cost efficiency and profit: There is no consensus in the literature, even though most conclude, this is as efficient as it gets (Hill, 2012; Etemad and Hay, 2003). Nothing else is expected in a system of corporate hegemony. We have covered this in the previous volumes as well as in other books on sustainability (Islam et al., 2010; Islam et al., 2015; Khan and Islam, 2007; Zatzman and Islam, 2007). Recall our HSS®A®N (Honey → Sugar → Saccharin®→Aspartame)®pattern pathway is a metaphor representing many other phenomena and chinks of phenomena that originate from some natural form but become subsequently engineered through many intermediate stages into “new products”, ultimately transforming into nothing, for which the profit margin approaches infinity. These “new products” include progressively more involvement of artificial matter and process (Picture 5.1). Clearly, as the amount of artificial is increased, profit margin soars and the insult to the personal and environmental health increases (Figure 5.9). Of course, occasionally natural materials are introduced (e.g., Gravol® has introduced organic ginger, while others have added lemon, honey and others) but no one conducts economic analysis of using just the natural materials. The reason behind this is clearly profiteering. The reality of economic policy is that cost effectiveness is not what investors and policy-makers are looking for, but whatever gains profit is what they are looking for. An economic evaluation should involve index for sustainability analysis that includes long-term harm to the organism. We started that line of economic analysis a decade ago (Zatzman and Islam, 2007) and followed up with ‘economics of intangible’ analysis in every major research monograph since then (e.g., Islam et al., 2010; Khan and Islam, 2012, 2016; Khan and Islam, 2007; Islam et al., 2015, 2016). In that sense, chemical drugs are not even a starter for economic analysis as they are not sustainable. Even then, current economic analysis, with all its flaws and absurd logics, still confirms SJW is a more cost-effective treatment than the chemical drug option.

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Picture 5.1 Unnatural is synonymous with the Information Age. Knowledge/health/ welfare

Intangible/tangible balance Natural source

Time

Ignorance/illness/ misery

Unnatural source

Figure 5.9 Unnatural chemicals add to the misery and in return profit margin soars.

In terms of cost efficiency, the work of Daniela Solomon (2001) has really influenced the latest literature. The work to be discussed confirms any potentially weak/non-confirmable previous evidence regarding the cost-effectiveness of SJW compared to drugs for treating mild-moderate

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depression (major not confirmed). Solomon et al. (2013) showed through a Markov model14 through 5,000 simulations that SJW extracts treated mild-moderate depression that venlafaxine was $359.66 more costly than SJW and sertraline $202.56 more costly. Also it was found that there was an “86% chance that SJW is cost-effective compared to ADs [standard antidepressants] at or below $64,000 per life year gained”. Solomon et al. (2011) reviewed several trials and reports that covered a wide range of subjects relating to SJW vs. a placebo and standard antidepressants and found what we have. Getting to the economic perspective, this paper discussed the general factors behind standard antidepressants being compared to SJW extract, such as the cost of production, close-competitors (in terms of cost-effectiveness), rate of adverse reactions (tolerability), non-adherence rates, compliance (poor in AD), and other cost-influencing factors. Reports repeatedly showed that SJW had very satisfactory results when it came to cost-influencing factors, repeatedly better than close competitors. The study warranted a rigorous economics evaluation, which is provided by the later published (2013) PhD thesis of Daniela Solomon (2013), titled ‘The treatment of mild to moderate depression: a cost-effectiveness analysis of St. John’s wort versus pharmacotherapy’. The work provides an extensive cost-analysis review in order to cover the ‘research gap’ in the important subject15. Results from a Markov model between two of the most prescribed antidepressants in Australia were tested against SJW extract, streamline having no difference in efficacy than SJW extract. Results found that SJW is cost-effective relative to the two drugs based on efficacy data. Even at all extremes tested, costs were lower for SJW than the artificial antidepressants. Based on data, artificial antidepressants were more effective in treating larger populations (cognitive malfunction?16).

14

A Markov model is a stochastic model used to model randomly changing systems where it is assumed that future states depend only on the present state and not on the sequence of events that preceded it. 15 She also does an extensive review of existing trial data on the effectiveness of SJW for mild-moderate depression being similar t that of standard antidepressants, and with a “superior tolerability and safety profile”: see “Background” on the introductory info of her PhD dissertation. 16 Remember, SJW is a herb and can be must more cost effective if deinstitutionalized, if all were allowed to grow and extract it, if it were a mainstream product. But even according to dogma, SJW is cheaper and generally cost-effective in comparison to mainstream artificial drugs.

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This new, ‘high-quality’ (read ‘dogma’) research confirms SJW’s superiority in treating depression from the cost-effectiveness perspective. From the perspective of the overall economy, we know that (see Game theory section in Islam et al., 2016) the pharmaceutical industry is set up in such a way that any natural, non-mainstream, non-HSSA syndrome intervention in it will have a negative impact on the ‘economy’. In order to advance the prospect of this type of medicine, we have to get out of the HSSA mode, meaning a restructuring of the economy is required to get out of progressively worse healthcare.

5.4.2 Nigella Sativa Seeds There are several other non-mainstream, naturally derived medications that have promising preliminary results. The seed of the Nigella Sativa plant, known as black-seed, has been noted to have beneficial effects by Ibn Sina in his Canon of Medicine (full text available in Website 6), since the time of the Prophet Muhammad when he said, “In black seed there is healing for every disease, except death”. ”17 Arabic: “ Although there are no found meta-analyses on the topic and very few human trials, Hosseini et al. (2012) performed a trial on Wistar rats by giving them Nigella sativa hydro-alcoholic extract after having depression induced using lipopolysaccharide. They found nigella sativa extract was effective in preventing depressive behavior as compared to the control group. A similar result was found by Islam et al. (2015n) who looked at anxiolytic, antiepileptic, and antidepressant effects in Wistar rats after being treated with nigella sativa seed extract, tested with the forced swim test and tail suspension test. Rats that were given NSE (nigella seed extract) performed well and NSE was concluded to have positive results in the top three factors. Perveen et al. (2014) conducted a forced swimming test to determine effects of a daily dose of NS oil on Wistar rats. Note that more struggle in a forced swimming test signals less depression as it is battling a stressful situation; succumbing to the depressive situation faster indicated depression, while continued endeavor signals “anti-depressive-like behaviour”. The results were significant between the control and test groups (*p