Story
King Alaric stirred awake in his grand chamber. Today was the best of days. Today he would double the wellbeing of his people — no, quadruple it — and surely earn their lasting gratitude as well. Yea, today he might even inscribe his name in the annals of history.
Alaric had been reading about ancient Rome the night before, and then the sight of the servants hauling basins of water from the well for his bath had sparked a new thought: the city needed aqueducts. The whole kingdom needed aqueducts!.
He rubbed his eyes, propped himself up on a pillow, and summoned his wise advisor, Cedric. He explained his new plan.
“What is the next step, Cedric?” Alaric asked, excitement bubbling in his chest. “Perhaps we should gather the finest architects in the land?”
Cedric shook his head. “No, that is not the next step.”
“Then we must organize a grand assembly to rally the townsfolk!” Alaric exclaimed.
“Also no,” Cedric replied, his expression calm.
The king’s brow furrowed. “Should we not send messengers to neighboring kingdoms for support?”
Cedric smiled gently. “That is not the next step, either.”
Frustrated yet intrigued, Alaric leaned forward. “Then what is the next step, Cedric?”
With a twinkle in his eye, Cedric replied, “You’ll have to get out of bed, your majesty, and get dressed.”
Alaric chuckled, realizing the simplicity of his advisor’s wisdom. Only then could he begin the day’s grand plans.
Analysis
“Everybody wants to rule the world,” goes the song lyric. Although rulership is a Learned Layer (LL) phenomenon, benefiting society is in the Default Human Range (DHR). Some people would like to command architects, assemblies, and messengers for the good of society. But what King Alaric realizes in the story is that to control these great projects, he must first control himself.
The political nature of the great projects is what I will call a Learned Layer (LL) – something that the king learned about in school or in society, as supposed to something that is innate or instinctive. Although most people get net positive pleasure from some Learned Layer states, living entirely in the Learned Layers leads to a feeling of alienation. This is the sensation one gets when one is in a social environment that is wholly different from the environments in which hunter gatherers evolved. It may differ because it involves money, hierarchical status, or even planning aqueducts. On the other hand, this is partly a matter of interpretation: aqueduct-building is a kind of socially meaningful shared project, which was a common Default Human Range experience for hunter gatherers.
Alaric’s mind and body are the instruments by which he can have an influence on the world. If he doesn’t manage himself, he can’t manage anything else. But managing oneself is not a matter of authority or command – it is, rather, a matter of expecting that efforts will lead to net positive pleasure. This often involves being in a Default Human Range place as opposed to a Learned Layer place. The expectation that efforts will lead to pleasure is a nexus state that leads to greater agency and self-regulation.
King Alaric has learned that autonomous nexus states – the motivation to get out of bed – must precede dyadic and collective nexus states – his relationships with Cedric and with his society.
We often have trouble doing what we want to do. We struggle with self control. Some days, King Alaric might be so tired that he doesn’t want to get out of bed. Part of self control, I will argue, is allowing yourself to be a hunter gatherer sometimes. That is, if you try to concern yourself with modern issues like kingdoms and aqueducts all the time, you will stress yourself out and won’t get anywhere. Getting out of bed isn’t (and shouldn’t be) moral issue – it’s not that people who get out of bed are good citizens or some such nonsense. Rather, its that reducing complex modern problems to simple, human ones (getting out of bed) can make these complex problems seem less overwhelming. There can be a reliable pleasure in getting out of bed.
Getting from one state to another is a common concern – beyond just getting out of bed. You might want to get out of an anxiety state, an anger state, an insecure state, or a state that is stuck reading the internet. You might want to get into a state where you calmly accept your circumstances or a state where you have more self-control. You might want to get into a state where you can express more love for the people who are close to you.
In a sense, getting from one mental, emotional, and bodily state to another state is all anyone can ever do – you are the only thing you can control. Unless you have Jedi powers, the only way you can open a door is to control your hand and make it open the door. The only way to solve a math problem is to control your own mind and make it solve the problem (or else make your hand punch the problem into a calculator or computer). And the only way King Alaric can get out of bed is to control his arms and legs to get him out. But Alaric can’t control his arms and legs by threatening his limbs, as he could perhaps do with his subjects. Instead, he has to appreciate the reliable pleasure of waking up.
In the next three pieces, I will describe three particular contexts where Nexus State Theory might be useful: the internet and social media, understanding therapy, and deciding when to make an effort toward self control.
Vocabulary
- Learned Layers (LL): Things that humans learn socially or in school, but cannot do instinctively or intuitively.
- Alienation: The sensation one gets when one is in a social environment that is wholly different from the environments in which hunter gatherers evolved.
Nexus State Theory 