A Critcal Examination of The Theorem: A Complete Answer to Human Behavior

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A critical examination of The Theorem: A Complete Answer to Human Behavior.
The discovery and future implications of the work.
Anecdote | Chapter 1-3 | Chapter 4-6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8-9 | Chapter 10-11 | Chapter 12-14 | Brief Discussion | Critical Examination PDF





Part One- The Model


Chapter 1) The Two Cycles

Chapter One is a short chapter where Douglas Arone introduces the importance of fetal development. Arone writes here metaphorically of how nature utilizes the two cycles of day and night to guide fetal development and accomplish the goal of preparing the fetus for the process of labor. He also shows off his skills as a writer touching on the concept of a lie. Essentially he says the lie colors our world. He foreshadows that the fetus that will develop autism never experiences this development. The schizophrenic as a fetus experiences different development and therefore has a different perception of the lie. To the rest of us, we are enchained to it. Beyond this there is little value to this chapter.


Chapter 2) The Euphoric Cycle

Here Arone begins the presentation of The Theorem model. The developing fetus throughout gestation realizes many cycles of development, but ultimately they are divided into two major cycles. The first cycle is defined as the ‘Euphoric Cycle’. The book is written as a teaching manual in a sense. He is introducing complex axiomatic concepts and does a good job in reinforcing these cycles throughout the book. So consequently I will not cover too much of this cycle here. In essence, the key purpose of this euphoric cycle is to restrict fetal movement. This is for the primary reason as to enable the mother to move about during the day, unhindered by the developing fetus. Another reason is to rest up for the upcoming and more significant cycle of fetal development that occurs immediately following this. Envision if you will a highly medicated fetus, bouncing around as the mother goes around her daily routine. It is listening to her voice and experiencing the movement. This is a very positive experience for the fetus and this is because movement by the mother facilitates large levels of pain killing neurochemicals to the developing fetal reward pathways, or limbic regions. Arone presents that there are many neurochemicals that accomplish this task, but for simplification to the reader he identifies dopamine. It is helpful to understand that the events and development related to this cycle will be remembered as positive.


Chapter 3) The First Fear Cycle Of Development

The second major cycle of fetal development is called ‘The First Fear Cycle of Development’ or ‘The First Fear Cycle’. This is a much more significant developmental regime. Arone will weight these pages much longer than those for the euphoric cycle, on a five to one ratio. In contrast to the euphoric cycle, this developmental cycle is horrifically painful to the fetus. When movement decreases by the mother so does the flood of dopamine to the fetal brain. The fetus therefore realizes an immense amount of pain. It learns through a simple conditioning model that when it generates it own movement it increases the dopamine flow to its reward pathways; so this is exactly what it does. An example of this would be when the mother sits, rests or lays on the bed, the fetus will begin more times than not to move. This should make a great deal of sense to anyone who has witnessed the fetal behavior of a pregnant mother. It should be emphasized that this movement is a very painful struggle for the developing fetus. Think here, movement of the mother is positive and inactivity by her negative, although essential for the developing fetus.

This painful cycle is climaxed by the initiation of independent fetal breathing. He coins the term ‘Fetal Apnea’. This is the most excruciating experience realized by the developing fetus, as all assisted maternal ventilation stops. This is preparing the fetus for the difficult and dangerous process of birth, where it might be without air for lengthy time periods. It is also intended for a general conditioning of the lungs for life outside the womb. The fetus does not know this of course and only realizes the horrific pain as it essentially chokes from lack of air. This is until its lungs breathe independently. Think here the fear and process of drowning magnified. While these periods of independent breathing occur in both cycles, it is much more painful during the first fear cycle.

Nature does give some small mercy to the fetus however. While the fetus is in one of these two developmental cycles it cannot remember the existence of the other. This is for the obvious reason that the fetal memory is not fully matured, and therefore lacks the short and long term memory necessary to process the complete picture of its environment. To simplify this for the reader Arone terms this ‘Memory Block’ a definition that will be used throughout the book and a cornerstone of his model set forth.

Significant developmental aspects of the model are put forth in this chapter. During this first fear cycle the fetus through chance finds other ways to obtain this invaluable dopamine release to reduce the pain. This in lieu of the exhaustive kicking and punching that are its first response. Fetal positioning enables it to find that sucking on its thumb releases dopamine to the reward pathways and pinpoints the dopamine release. This will be invaluable later as Arone hypothesizes that the infant has no interest in feeding for the sake of food from the mother, instead is only interested in obtaining the dopamine release from the suction on the nipple or bottle. This would most certainly explain some children’s fascination with pacifiers. The development is much more significant than this however. The First Fear is an actual precise developmental regime intended for many purposes; the first being to successfully enable the fetus an uneventful journey during the birthing process. The exhausted fetus, which is tired from the punching and kicking, attempts to initiate movement from the mother at all costs. It reaches out on the intrauterine walls and then retracts. It retracts because the walls are warm, but to the undeveloped dermatome and under-encoded nerves in the finger tips this brings a dramatic pain response. According to Arone, because the fetus has little short term memory in a few minutes it will try this again and thus realize the same painful response. This is important because this repetitive action codes the pain receptors and their neural equivalent. This will be utilized to help the fetus navigate successfully down the birth canal.

The undeveloped fetal memory also lends itself to the development spectrum. Seeing as it cannot remember one cycle while in another, it goes from a perfectly relaxed state in the euphoric cycle to an extremely high alert state within seconds as the cycles change into the first fear cycle. These changes occur as quickly as the time it takes from the mother to go from standing up to sitting down. This rapid change in fetal states serves to develop fetal reflexes, which will be essential for the process of birth and life after.
Perhaps the most stunning and controversial aspect of Arone’s Theorem however is another aspect of the developing fetal memory. Here because of the fetal limitations of memory, it misinterprets the cues of its environment. For example the fetus begins to misinterpret the punching and kicking in this simple dopamine conditioning model to be something much more than it is. In time the fetus believes that its actions alone are responsible for changes in the intrauterine environment. The fetus believes itself to be responsible for determining the mother’s movements. This is not so hard to believe, as from the outside a pregnant mother may report that the kicking of the fetus was responsible for frequent awakenings at night, especially late in pregnancy. This also would explain why infants and young children see the world revolving around them.

Another misinterpretation is responsible for the root of human empathy. Because this fetus believes itself responsible for changes in the intrauterine environment it begins to misinterpret that the mother is enduring this horrific first cycle as well, instead of just sleeping at night. It also feels powerless to prevent the two of them from experiencing this cycle. From this, a deep empathy and connection to the mother develops. So when conditions worsen and the fetus must leave the mother it believes that it is leaving her to continue to experience this horrific cycle and that she will suffer a horrific fate. Arone believes that when conditions worsen, it is the fetus that initiates labor. This is not an easy decision, one filled with guilt and uncertainty. The uncertainty arises because nature has set up barriers to keep the fetus inside of the womb. Some of these barriers include warm areas, which respond as hot burning sensations to the undeveloped fetal dermatome. So the fetus must cross these painful hot areas before even beginning the long process of labor. The guilt is the misinterpretation that without the fetus to keep her awake with the kicking and punching, the mother will no longer remain a viable entity. In short she will die. So as not to misinterpret Arone’s words here, he does state that dying is not comprehensible to the fetus, but again is only its interpretation of this painful first fear cycle, complete with fetal apneas and the painful reduction of dopamine flow. Arone states later that our entire fear of death itself is nothing more than the subconscious reoccurrence of this event. This is essentially the basement of which all our perceptions and fears of death are grounded.

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