Portrait of Paradigm breaker

A brand new look on life

One of the brightest minds of our time, the Chilean physicist and philosopher Humberto Maturana, has launched a new book entitled Habitar Humano - Human House - written in association with his colleague Ximena Dávila. Without any theoretical handcuff, Maturana is claimed to be one of the most respected scientists ever. His thoughts are a gripping invitation to break the common sense truths and to bounce back from contemporary wounds


By LUAN GALANI
from Curitiba, BRAZIL


Seven hundred years ago, Frederick II, the Holy Roman-German Emperor, carried out one experience to settle which language children would speak if they have never listened to somebody speaking. Would them speak Hebrew (thought to be the most ancient language at that time), Greek or their country's language? He gave the children's mothers instructions to only feed and bath them, without speaking a word. The experiment had failed because the children died. However, this failed experience shows us how social interaction and communication - especially language - are vital to human beings and to cultural development. This is exactly what defends one of the brightest minds of our century, the doctor, biologist and philosopher Humberto Maturana. Recently, after eight years of reflection and investigation, he and his colleague Ximena Dávila have been to Curitiba, Brazil, for the official launch of their book.

I still can picture every trembling step of my first privileged moments in front of him. That day I was standing in the hall of a hotel, waiting to interview him. As I watched that 80-year-old-man but full of life coming in my direction, on the spot I realized why he is held in high esteem. Not only for his important pieces of work but also for the sort of person he is. Maturana is captivating. His breezy manners and his kindness are quite impressive.

This Virgo man, who was born in 1928 in Santiago, was since a child wholeheartedly interested in Biology and human beings at multiple levels. "Watching birds and other animals from my window and trying to interact with them was the very beginning", recalled him. From the moment he had got the degree in Medicine on, he knew he was in the right path. He took post-graduation at College of London and Harvard. Afterwards, he worked at Massachussets Institute of Technology and his internationally rewarded career just sprang up.

Maturana have developed pioneering pieces of work on breaking paradigms, mainly in the neurophysiology of perception. Trying to understand the human beings by doing researches on the nervous system, he extends it to the social ambit. One of his most acclaimed theories begun to be shaped when a brilliant young undergraduate student burst into Maturana's office and enthusiastically declared that he wanted "to study the role of mind in the universe". Maturana responded: "My boy, you've come to the right place".

Mind you, that young adult was Francisco Varela: also a great scientist, a compassionate thinker and a serious follower of Tibetan Buddhism. Together they developed in the 1970's a revolutionary scientific notion that has had a great transversal impact on the history of modern science. It is coined autopoiesis, which sustains that humans have the ability to produce themselves, constantly recreating and regulating themselves through the knowledge and the interactions with the environment. Briefly, "We understand cognition as a biological phenomenon", Maturana explained. It all is contained in the remarkable book called "The three of knowledge".

Love, knowledge and present

Still taking the idea of reflection to new levels, he considers that the humans are essentially made of emotions - breaking the paradigm that humans are intimately rational - and that we differ from the other creatures because we can think about everything that is around us. These ideas today are extensively known as Biology of Love and Biology of Knowledge, concepts that are spread over several areas nowadays.

In 2000, Maturana and Dávila, his follower, created the Matriztic Institute, a place that favors the amplification of comprehension of all human dominions, where studies are developed through courses, lectures and reflections. The name of the institute allude to Matriztic societies - peaceful and equal societies that inhabited Europe, and, according to many archeological and historical evidences, were dated as prior to 4000 B.C. "The best kind of society that have ever existed", he told me. They were very developed societies, organized into cooperation and respect for everyone, including for Nature.

He points out great importance on meeting Dávila. Maturana remembered that he had been a little bit puzzled in his ideas, actually lost, without checking his theories in practice, when she turned up. "She discovered the manner of combining theory and practice perfectly and developed it even more deeply", affirmed thoughtfully.

The media spotlight was under Maturana again in 2004 as he became a special advisor to President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, on her government program. "That was a special moment where I and other people were given the chance to draw up important programs and priorities", told me, gesticulating in the air.

Criticism of our way of living

Today, in our market-oriented cultures, we continually hear that competition is the natural way for humans, just as, it is claimed, it is in nature. This, we are told, is "survival of the fittest, the strongest", and it will ultimately yield progress. "Yet, strangely, when we observe our reaction to people in misfortune or disaster where a competitive advantage immediately presents itself, we generally find ourselves feeling sympathy, caring and nurturance. When we are in work, we find we are most satisfied and productive when we cooperate with our fellow workers. When our closest pets experience us in sadness or bereavement, there is something about their presence that we humans might call empathy for our condition", explained.

So, in these observations in daily life, we do not see competition operating. We see love, mutual respect, caring. If a coherent explanation of humanness could show that human beings are biologically loving (cooperative) beings, and that "competition" and "hierarchy" and "control" are cultural impositions which negate our humanness, how would our awareness be changed, and how might our behaviors come to differ? He replied me question with a sunny smile and two simple words: thinking and acting.

Our European culture is one of patriarchy, and patriarchy has appropriation as central. "Appropriation of land, of fertility, of objects of all sort, of life itself (we only need look to recent decisions in patent law to see this). So, in patriarchy, control and hierarchy and negation become conserved, and humanness becomes incidental. Yet within our culture, I think we continue to live a love-based childhood, and that patriarchy becomes impressed on us only as we grow into adulthood", said Maturana.

He also heaps criticism on the indiscriminate population growth: the biggest problem of our society. He points it out because, according to him, it is the triggering cause for social difference.

By that time, we were interrupted by his helpful assistant telling him that it was time to finish, otherwise he would miss his flight. Then, we traded firm shake hands and said each other sincere goodbyes. Not forever, I hope.


(Published: 20.06.2009.)