THE TRENDS OF EVOLUTION l8l 



responds purely through instinct or intelligence; there is al- 

 ways some mixture of the two, although the mixture is dis- 

 proportionate. Instances of the undesirable rigidity of some 

 instincts were pointed out. Likewise, we saw that psycholo- 

 gists can even find objections to the learned (or intelligent) 

 behavior of the human. Among the objections is the neces- 

 sity of long periods of teaching for each individual in the 

 population, an inefficient procedure which contrasts with 

 the automatic and untutored responses of the instinctive ani- 

 mal. This is not an idle objection, as all who teach should 

 know. There is a great and frequently poorly remunerated 

 burden placed on the shoulders of many individuals whose 

 lives are dedicated to the task of human learning, and this in 

 addition to the almost endless teaching which is carried on 

 inside and outside the family. Even if the methodology all 

 along the line were perfect, the years of man are short, and 

 the knowledge to be absorbed has accumulated through the 

 ages to incredibly vast proportions. In a lifetime, man can- 

 not hope to cover completely even one field of human learn- 

 ing. We all know that the methodology of education is not 

 perfect: it does not always teach tested knowledge; and 

 often, even in the cases where such knowledge is available, 

 the teaching is nullified by strong emotional blocks set up 

 by previous indoctrination in myth and dogma. The human 

 child is born to any of hundreds of cultural differences in 

 religion, custom, and language. Myths and dogma in the 

 guise of revealed "truths" are often given to him. He is not 

 taught to examine and weigh carefully all knowledge: to 

 inspect the background of the customs of his people, to 

 strive for a clear and concise meaning in the use of the sym- 

 bols of his language, and to avoid superstition. He is simply 

 indoctrinated, and the indoctrination is relatively bad the 

 world over. 



Who can truly see what all this engenders? There are 

 some, like L. L. Whyte, who see religion failing of its lofty 

 goal of the brotherhood of man, in no way lessening war or 



