Mechanistic thinking in biology always makes a secondary or tertiary biological process the primary factor. Consider the latest “discovery” in biology that claims that a single molecule, the hormone oxytocin, is at the center of our moral lives. In his new book, “The Moral Molecule” Paul J. Zak asserts that the presence or the absence of this molecule in the blood stream is the reason that some people are caring and generous while others are cruel and greedy. Typical of the way mechanists think, he goes on in mystical fashion to propose that this new science of morality can be used to create a more virtuous society. He writes, “If you detect the makings of an endless loop that can feed back onto itself, creating what might be called a virtuous circuit- and ultimately a more virtuous society- you are getting the idea.” (See The Truest Molecule by Paul J. Zak, The Wall Street Journal, April 28-29 2012).
This kind of thinking about biological processes is downright destructive not only because it leads nowhere but also because it generates more mystical distortions and confusion in biology. It is another manifestation of the emotional plague in natural science.
From a functional-energetic perspective, all living organism’s pulsate. Their biological orgone energy expands out to the world with pleasurable stimuli and it contracts away from the world with painful or noxious stimuli. Pulsation is a primary biological function and it is anchored structurally in the organism’s plasmatic system which includes the autonomic nervous system, the vascular system, endocrine system and the immune system. These systems are responsible for maintaining all the life functions of the organism. It is true that the hormone oxytocin is elevated in functions that involve expansive or pleasurable activities of the organism. However, the expansive function of biological orgone energy is primary and is what determines the blood levels of oxytocin. Taking a secondary function, oxytocin, and attributing a primary importance to it is an evasion of recognizing the primary orgonotic functions that are the foundation of life.
Neither Left Nor Right
The Emotional Plague
Charles Konia, M.D. 