While I believe that humans are animals and that much of our innate tendencies are animalistic, the fact that we hold the power to change, learn, and listen to logic and love makes us uniquely human. We can rise above our animalistic tendencies to a state that requires greater focus and self-control, allowing for understanding, cooperation, community, connection, and more. Evolution gave humans a sizeable frontal cortex, the area within our brain responsible for reasoning, decision-making, and problem-solving. However, like all mammals, we still have the areas within our brains that care for much of our bodily function and instinctual behaviors.
By default, we operate from these lower sections of our brain to ensure survival and safety. But as we grow and learn, and largely as we self-reflect, we realize that we aren't the helpless children we once were and are now capable of providing love and protection for ourselves. This understanding and self-care for ourselves can retrain our brain to become less volatile and reactive, allowing our frontal lobe to use greater reasoning so we do not need to demonstrate our instinctual and animalistic behaviors to feel safe. Unfortunately, many adults do not understand this or do not wish to spend time with themselves to heal what has been hurt in the past. It can be scary and extremely uncomfortable to revisit the past traumas we may have experienced, so it's much easier to revert to our animalistic brains when dealing with challenges, changes, or differences with others.
To fight with one another comes easily to us, but to come together, find common ground, and unite despite differences is human and takes effort. It requires a higher level of consciousness to choose love over hate and to want to learn from others rather than cling to the stale beliefs that stop our own critical thinking. It takes courage to unlearn bad habits, it takes effort to understand our social structures and the histories of their creation, which impacts how everyone lives in the world. But when we know that giving power and equity to others does not take away from our own power and rights and that it multiplies them, we can release the fear and belief that we will lose power and control, something our animalistic brains often cannot fathom, especially if we had dealt with the loss of control or power as a child. When we listen to leaders who divide nations and place blame on people rather than the corporations and CEOs responsible for sustaining the inequalities we fight over, this repeats the age-old history of kings and queens ruling over their countries, taking away rights and exploiting the livelihoods of their people, pitting them against one another in attempts to distract us from the real enemy--the very people holding and hoarding power.
Recognizing and extending your privileges to others who have not been as advantaged is human; it takes effort and time to unlearn the fears and beliefs that have conditioned us. But this is also what makes us human rather than animals.
Comments