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 In
addition to punishments for non-compliance, there are considerable
rewards that society offers those who move with the current of
accepted practice. Those who take this path of least resistance
are less likely to become embroiled in a life of conflict with
friends, associates and the establishment. Their lives are more
predictable and less encumbered with struggle than the lives of
those who march to their own tune. Monetary rewards, elevated status
and social acceptability often accrue to those who perform well
as part of the herd. Through these incentives, society gradually
comes to own their soul the way that Mephistopheles bought the
soul of Faust.
At What Price?
Hidden within these rewards is an insidious trap. With the gradual
accumulation of relationships and material possessions comes an
increased vulnerability
that is felt as a deep-seated fear. It is a fear of losing the money and
the material possessions that have become the surrogate for one’s original
goals and aspirations. It is a fear that is gradually transformed into a dull
pervasive ennui that is linked to the potential loss of the love of a spouse,
parent, child or friend–and ultimately, the loss of self-esteem. This
is the conundrum that Bernard Levin, columnist of the Times of London, expressed
(as quoted in Ferguson, p. 40):
Countries like ours are full of people who have all the material comforts
they desire, yet lead lives of quiet (and at times noisy) desperation,
under-standing nothing but the fact that there is a hole inside them and
that however much food and drink they pour into it, however many motorcars
and television sets they stuff it with, however many well-balanced children
and loyal friends they parade around the edges of it…it aches.
The gradual surrender of one’s individuality brings with it a benign
acceptance of imposed limitations and an abandonment of the hopes and dreams
of youth. The idealism and optimism seen in early life eventually give way
to the pessimism and cynicism evident in the later years, taking with it the
passion that makes life exciting. The jaded and the disillusioned are the people
Henry David Thoreau observed 150 years ago when he said, “The mass of
men lead lives of quiet desperation.”1 In trading their individuality
for comfort, the masses have lost the very passion for life that is needed
for high achievement and, more importantly, the joy that psychologists call self-actualization.
Very few people escape this enculturation and even fewer march to the tune
of their own drummer. Why do so few people escape the early indoctrination
that dooms them to an unfulfilled life? The answer is seen in the behavior
of other animal species.
The Pike Syndrome
The high priests in every field of human endeavor speak about doing things “by
the book.” Who wrote the book? In every endeavor, “the book” is
in continuous revision, driven by breakthroughs made by those who actually
play outside the book. The masses take the book as gospel. Slavish adherence
to the book is referred to in business psychology as the Pike Syndrome.
In an experiment with pike (a fresh-water fish), a glass barrier was placed
between the fish and their food. When the fish tried to get to the food they
hit the glass. After repeated failures, the fish stopped trying for the food.
Surprisingly, when the barrier was removed they still refused to swim to
the food. Early enculturation has led most of humanity to suffer from the
Pike
Syndrome –forever inhibited from the pursuit of their dreams by an invisible “glass” barrier
of convention.
The Pike Syndrome molds us to believe we know what can and can’t be done.
Before 1954, it was generally believed that running the mile in less than 4
minutes was not humanly possible. However, Roger Bannister, who had frequently
run a quarter of a mile in less than one minute while a student at Oxford,
visualized combining four such runs in succession. The result was his famous
3-minute-59-second mile. Once people realized it was possible, running the
mile in less than 4 minutes became commonplace. Bannister’s triumph
shows clearly that the greatest barriers we encounter in life are those that
are
self-imposed. Victims of the Pike Syndrome would rather starve than go where
the glass barrier threatens failure. Such negative inner beliefs prove debilitating.
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