That is such an important question. And it has an answer. And the answer goes deep. Human beings are social animals. We should realize that. And an understanding of sociology could go a long way toward helping our government with policies that affect the whole of society.

As Dragonists, we assert that the true purpose of religion is the socialization of wisdom. Religion plays a critical role in society. Just as education does. Just as STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics] does. And, just as Art, Poetry & Philosophy do.

As Dragonists, we further assert that the true meaning of the word “Philosopher” is “Friend of Wisdom” not “Lover of Wisdom” as it is usually translated. And Dragon knows, on this planet, with this unruly nascent extra-terrestrial species struggling through its own “Emergentizing of The Empathikon” in a world like this, Wisdom can use all the Friends it can get. And we affectionately nickname ourselves “Librarians” because we Understand with Deep Clarity the importance of Books. And that includes CDs & DVDs. Because Music & Cinema are also Arts of the highest order. Graffiti is Art. Rap is Art. Hip-Hop is Art. Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music” is Art.

Think about Abraham Maslow’s pyramid of human needs. The most basic needs, water, food, shelter, constitute the base of the pyramid. At the apex of the pyramid you have the spiritual needs of the human species. We say, in our Western Bible, that man [meaning, women too, and, all races & ethnicities] was made in the image of God. And our “Being with Each Other” in other words, the social/gregarious/romantic domain of our “Being” is just as important as our “Being with The Supreme Being” or “Being with Supreme Being” [Cosmic Consciousness].

That’s because with the human species the complexity of social interaction has taken an evolutionary leap. As far as we know, and this might change any day now, we are the only species on the planet that has developed a sophisticated language capable of putting “Ideation” or “Intellection” into Action so fully. We are the Thinking Animal. We are the Ratiocinating Animal. The “Rational Animal” as Aristotle said.

But we are more than that. It is only relatively recently in the evolutionary history of Earth that the Intellectual Faculty of Consciousness has fully emerged. This happened with the breakdown of bicameral consciousness, probably, some 5 million years ago. With us, and, possibly, with two or three other highly evolved sentient species on the planet. We have mastered language, and so, we think, we have mastered Thinking. Intellection. But we haven’t Mastered Thinking. Not really.

We are like a 6 year old body builder on steroids. A “Mini-Me” version of Conan the Barbarian. Overdeveloped. But, by no means, mature. And it isn’t our Emotions that are immature. Nor is it our Imagination that is immature. Neither is it our Intuition.

It is our Intellection. Our Thinking. Our Mind. Consequently, our Language. And this, in turn, has skewed our other normally healthy Faculties. It is the “Repression Mechanism” that our own Ego brings to bear, often, co-opting our limbic system, corrupting our amygdala’s mood stability functions, making us, as a species, sick. Mentally ill.

These horrific acts that people seem to just be randomly engaging in, like, the terrible mass shootings we are seeing in the U.S., or, the war in Ukraine, the total oppression of women in Iran & Afghanistan, are all indications of an “inflated” conscious, egoistic, even narcissistic orientation that is out of balance with the natural organic functioning of our Total Psyche.

Once we realize that we have to “Surrender Our Thinking” to “Our Imagination” we are on the verge of taking that first & most important step toward the “Complete Integration” of our new found Thinking Function with the other previously “Repressed” but far more mature Functions. Under the “Guidance” of “Their Wisdom” our Intellect will one day become able to fulfill its True Purpose…

To Know the Dragon.