the evolving mind

Reconciliations among males are often preceded by a confirmation of formal status. For example, the dominant stands upright with his hair erect and in one mighty gesture passes a raised arm over his ducking partner before they proceed to kissing and grooming.
- Franz de Waal (30)

Rituals grow out of the soil of human nature. In the Abrahamic religions we find a father-god who has been generalized and promoted as the god of all. How do people show they acknowledge and accept “His” position and theirs? They bow, they kneel, they sing praise. Oh you my god are greater, and by logical consequence, I am lesser.

Chimpanzees have their own ways to display a lesser status, some seeming nearly ritualistic. “By lowering his or her body and looking up at alpha, the pant-grunter makes it obvious who is on top, which paves the way for peaceful, friendly relations.” (31)

The variety of primate submissive gestures is extensive, many of them subtle, often making it difficult to discern what is really going on.  “Submissive behaviors comprise a variety of nonaggressive postures, gestures, and calls that are directed up the hierarchy, from a low-ranking to a higher-ranking chimpanzee. They occur not only when the subordinate has been threatened or attacked by the other, but even when he (or she) approaches or is approached by, passes or is passed by, a higher-ranking individual who is not shown overt signs of aggression toward the gesturer. The patterns of submission include: presenting, crouching and bowing, bobbing, kissing, embracing, mounting, reaching toward (usually palm up), bending away” (32)

Through body language the gist of the message is this: I pose no threat to you (and/or don’t hurt me).

“Because of their protective and survival value, submissive displays are recognized as an indispensable part of an animal’s behavioral repertoire. Their value is that in signaling compliance, they serve to forestall, reduce, or terminate the punishing, and potentially deadly, actions of a dominating animal.” (33)

In religions the inferred cause of feelings of having been dominated, or being vulnerable to domination, is an invisible, mighty agent.

Why would a dominant agent get angry and behave threateningly? When its great status is ignored or questioned. Deuteronomy 31:27 reads, For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you have been rebellious against the LORD while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die! There are 19 other mentions in the New International Version of the Bible of people being stiff-necked. The dominant is “supposed” to be the stiff and tall one, the subordinate the limp and lowly. Any chimp understands this.

Walter Burkert has explained this class of phenomena well. “In order to stop aggression, by contrast, one has to be small and humble, humilis, which originally meant ‘close to the soil.’ To create this impression one has to kneel down, to cower to the ground, to crawl–in short, not to puff oneself up. Humans have invented hats and varieties of clothing to enhance their contours; submission entails taking off these accessories.” (35)

So take off your hat when you meet a lady to show you are not a threat (i.e., will not attempt to dominate her). Likewise, men, take off your hats in church to show you don’t think too highly of yourselves. Check not only your guns at the door, but your machismo as well.

When Moslems fall to their knees and touch their faces to the floor, rather than engaging in a sublime activity, they are manifesting our primate instincts.

—

(30) de Waal, F. Peacemaking Among Primates, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1989, p. 53
(31) de Waal, F. Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are, New York, Riverhead Books, 2005, p. 61
(32) Goodall, J. The Chimpanzees of the Gombe: Patterns of Behavior, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1986, p. 360
(33) MacLean, P.D., The Triune Brain in Evolution: Role in Paleocerebral Functions,
Springer, New York, 1990, p.112
(34) Burkert, W., Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early Religions, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996, p. 86

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