THE FALL TO GRACE

in #psychology7 years ago

Humanity, the human species is drastically different from any other species on the planet. Instead of adapting to our environment to survive, we survived by adapting the environment to us. In this way we have set ourselves apart. In this way we have torn ourselves apart.

bart-2571683_1920.jpg
More than 100,000 years ago, like the rest of earth’s creatures, mankind's behavior was completely dictated by instinctual drives. Instincts provided a state of oneness with creation and ourselves because there was only one course of action--given through evolution, designed by creation herself. Life was pretty straight forward. If you come across a guy chowing down on a drumstick and you’re hungry, you ask yourself one question: “Can I take ‘em?” Even without the capacity for reason, our ancestors were warned by their survival instinct; when you're staring down a saber-toothed tiger or maybe even a T-rex, the answer is invariably “no”. tyrannosaurus-447801_1920.jpg
Problem was, back in the day we were ill equipped to pick a fight with much of the competition. It was the survival instinct that compelled Paleolithic man to transcend the instinctual level. With the use of tools and fire, he employed technology to compensate for poor physical adaptation. This strategy proved so successful it became our primary evolutionary thrust. fire-1839797_1920.jpgTo make a long story short, the result to date is that we are no longer compelled by instinctual drives…however we are far from free of them. We lie somewhere between our primal instincts and this new mode of existence;
consumer-society-386661_1920.jpg

a state in which we can, to a large degree, redirect and focus the mind on whatever we choose. We have striven ever since to leave behind our animal roots, which have doggedly never stopped following us. Suppression and repression has only succeeded in giving them a sort of autonomy. The more we eliminate them from consciousness, the less conscious control we have over them. They still however exist and exert influence.
With or without our knowledge, we engage in a daily power struggle. The two sides of ourselves battle for the upper hand, while we identify ourselves with only one part of our whole beings.

face-65058_1920.jpg

Truth is the survival instinct never quit running the show.

Consuming only to the point necessary for survival which satisfies all other species demonstrates the normal functioning of instinct.
goats-1946015_1920.jpg

Mankind engages in the behavior initiated by our survival instinct, then, leaving the point of survival far behind, charges on ever forward with no end in sight.
goat-47987_1280.png

Individuals with more than they could ever use if they were to live multiple lifetimes, devote the only life they have to acquiring still more of what they can’t possibly use. This pattern exemplifies instinctual behavior in a state of disconnect.

old-40138_1280.png

Nature's beauty of form is rivaled by her genius of function, an amazingly complex and diverse system that is held in perfect balance. Unfortunately our capacity to disconnect from instinctual behavior also disconnects us from the encoded checks and compensations that would naturally maintain that balance by preventing excessive consumption of resources.

Historically every previous complex society has played out the same inner division. We are just the last of a series following a familiar pattern. The story ends when the survival instinct re-asserts itself to prevent the civilization from bringing about its own destruction through unsustainable practices. We lose the ground gained through our evolved adaptation and end up falling back into the "law of the jungle". The fall of the Roman Empire followed by the dark ages is a poster child for illustrating the cycle that has repeated itself over and over throughout the course of human history.
traffic-332857_1920.jpg
Where we are on that road is debatable, but that we are is not. If history repeats itself, as it's always done in the past, our current civilization has long since met the criteria of excessive consumption. We are setting ourselves up for the fall. Only this time might be different…Although the idea of part of our minds asserting itself and taking over functioning sounds frightening,

it is actually the most amazing opportunity imaginable.

head-172351_1920.jpg

We identify ourselves with our minds. What if there was some way to identify with the whole being? This point of reintegration with the instincts has that very potential. The methods for bringing our inner fragmentation together harmoniously are as numerous as there are individual beings.

Each of us is born as an expression of pure instinctual drives. Clearly we have not left them further behind than our own childhoods. We are blocked from direct experience by a framework of perceptions we begin to construct almost as soon as we are born.
baby-623417_1920.jpg
To open up to new possibilities, we have to start by dismantling what we think we know. Systemized methods for reconnecting have existed as long as the division itself. We call them 'Religion', a word that means 'union'. But while any form of systemization might be a good place to start, in the end, the process is highly individualistic. The level that we are able to focus our attention on integrating can drastically alter the outcome that befell our ancestors. INSTEAD OF ENGAGING IN A BATTLE WE CANNOT WIN, WE LEARN WAYS TO RECONNECT WITHIN.

Playing itself out internally and differently in each personality, this process is not readily apparent on a mass scale. Even to the individual, the impact might not be recognized or even consciously acknowledged because we are completely unaware of what’s taking place. Hopefully that will change sooner than later.

The arguments here are generally accepted facts, but they lead to conclusions that are anything but. Clearly stated, we are at a point of transformation from having a mind that is divided and in conflict to an entirely new form of existence, one of internal harmony and unity of purpose.
psychology-2001850_1920.jpg

The potential lies within every individual, and it is an opportunity of such magnitude that the full impact is beyond all comprehension. This is the new evolution.
success-846055_1920.jpg
"It can't be out fought
It can't be out done
It can't be out matched
It can't be out run..."*

Welcome to the evolution.

*Linkin Park "The Catalyst"

Sort:  

I don't necessarily agree with everything you wrote, but I thought it was well written and thought out, so I gave you an up vote. You have a very optimistic view of man-kind. While I agree that history repeats itself and we are on the same road and cycle as our past ancestors, I also feel that as a population as a whole, humans have gotten stupider. A large part of this appears to be genetic, as it seems that those with the lowest IQ and least productivity are more inclined to breed prolifically.

Thanks so much for your upvote and comment.
As for my optimistic view on mankind, you clearly didn't read my intropost! If this transformation relied on mankind transforming himself, it would probably go very badly.

What I'm pointing to is a shift in an underlying dynamic. It didn't rest on the individual ape or even the species for mankind to evolve from animals. It was the primal will, INSTINCT, a Power far greater than ours, following a repeating pattern that brought life from primordial goo to what we are today.

I believe societies ills are due to a massive imbalance that is part of this cyclical pattern. The shift is a correction of the imbalance and it's what has brought down so many past civilizations, but I believe will play out differently this time around.
We can only hope, cuz otherwise we'd be screwed;P

The streets will flow with the blood of the non-believers...

Sorry, but evil cultists are going to experience Crusades 2.0 if they pull their crap here.

You can take me, but you will never take my bunghole, Hm heh.... For I am the Great Cornholio Hm heh I have no bunghole, hm heh...

I guess I meant optimistic in the sense that you were mentioning humans evolved from the primordial ooze and I think we're heading back in the other direction.

Oh, I see what you're saying. None the less, the Universe has been evolving for billions of years, I just can't see that the evolutionary clock is going to start going in reverse. Even human stupidity cannot stop evolution from unfolding. You give us maybe too much credit.

And speaking of human stupidity, thanks for answering Cornholio. I was not sure how to respond to that.

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.17
TRX 0.15
JST 0.028
BTC 62205.55
ETH 2397.85
USDT 1.00
SBD 2.50