Posted by John on July 25, 2001 at 23:06:25:
In Reply to: Hello, John, JASON picked an item from your list. posted by jason on July 25, 2001 at 10:59:18:
: : instinct
: How does instinct play in you posts?
I don't know exactly what you mean, but instinct to me is a big interest because i am into he natural responses of people and animals. I beleive that if we followed our instincts we would be far truer and happier for it. Of course I am not naive enough to think that it is all pretty, instinct purely involves many deadly aspects. The difference I think is that most people don't consider our spiritual instincts. They don't listen to the pulling and desiring of our souls. In fact they are so deadened to them that we ended up with the whole pop psychology phenomena. Where everyone has to try and figure out what is motivating them and get counseling to fix it, or at least try to read enough self-help.
you may have heard me say i wish I could beat people with a stick? Well this is what i mean by that. Have you ever listened to people relate their problems to you? Perhaps you are more compassionate than me, but I get frustrated so easily because most of the problems can be solved in a matter of minutes, but that isn't what the people want, they feel that they need to solve some deep issue, or maybe they don't know the issue and so they refuse to see the solution, whatever, the point is if I could just out of the blue start swinging a big stick at them, what would they do?
They would react to get away from it of course. In that moment their other issues are gone because a more pressing instinctual issue is at hand. If they, we all, could only carry that moment of lucidity with us we would be far less prone to these sorry, sappy-ass (excuse my language) problems and attitudes that we get into and often live in. God provdes for our needs. He promises that. And our needs are very basic. Even our emotional needs are just as simple. We just expect to get more! Even when I am frustrated to what i think is my wits end and can't figure out why this stuff is happening, I often wake to the fact that I am still well cared for. And not in some stupid inspirational poster way, but really in my soul i understand my needs.
This is why i am so into survival and the environment. In these situations we test ourselves and we learn to hold onto the perspective that we have lost from so much vicarious living and illusions of danger. Like Bill's dreams about people living in a virtual world and not beleiving that the real world exists. We live in that world! We are so Disney, Busch Gardens, Survivor on TV trained that real world experiences are slim to none. We can't really grasp what reality is. That is why I like to be immersed in something that pushes my body to the absolute limit, that makes me truly scared because of things that are out of my control. That way i can learn to live on the instinct. Hopefully then I can take it back and truly be able to recognize what matters in my world and what doesn't.
also on the order of spiritual instincts and emotional needs, if we listened to these things and took our cues form the people who study these things and the animals around us, we would know that we are animlas that have very simple physical needs. We long to be touched, even if we say we hate it. Just like a dog that gets people shy from being beaten. We love a good meal and a rest. WE revel in the company of those we care about. We even have physiological responses to being groomed by each other, did you know that? How much healthier would we be if we were not afraid to touch. If a group of friends could watch a movie together and not worry about personal space. Sali's pugs sure don't care and I love them for it. Even when I'm down or pissed off they just climb right into your lap and lay down. Even my little rat loves to groom me, carefully cleaning me and looking for any parasites. It feels good. It relesaes endorphins in my brain that allow me to calm down. But imagine what this could do if we did this with each other. not in a sappy or perverted way, but in a natural way. I think we would all be healthier. honestly that is why i try to play with animals in their own language. I want to learn how they communicate using these basic touches and sounds. Usually they get so excited to actually see a human who is trying to talk to hem that they bounce off the walls, but even that makes me feel good. So try it. Relax and let those natural responses take over some time. Eat when you are hungry and enjoy it. Learn to strip off the other things we think we need and find what we really need. And most of all don't be afraid to use those same responses on other humans. Of course I'm not saying scrath your friends ear, but you know my point, don't be afraid to touch, however is natural for you. It's worth an experiment right? I have no idea where the limits are. May be there are none and eventually I'll be able to live in that healthy natural way always.