LEARNING TO DANCE WITH OUR "INNER ANIMAL"
We should not suppress our "Inner Animal"; nor should we let our Inner Animal take over our lives; We need to get to know it well, and to learn to dance with it, a beautiful dance.
Why must you do those things before you die?
I hear this kind of thing every now and then from someone I care about very, very much:
"I've got to do such-and-such, before I die! .I've never done it, or I haven't done it in years and years, maybe decades, maybe half a century, or more! .I'd really like to do it before I die. .I should do this, I want to see that. .I must do what all these other people are doing and I've never done enough of or have never done at all! .I want to do what I myself have always wanted to do - There's so little time left! .I'm not doing anything! .I'm just sitting here. .I would really like to go dancing. .Everyone says they have so much fun at the dances. .I have to be more social. .I want to see all those places that people coming back from cruises talk about -- I've never even been on a cruise! .I haven't even gone anywhere on a plane! .Everybody goes places on planes now, all the time. .I've never been to Europe, and those people go every year! .I've never even been to Mexico! .They've been to Italy, they've been to Ireland, they've been to England, and Scotland, and even Australia! .I've never seen any of that, and I may never see it before I die! .They go every year to some place like that. .They go dancing, they go out to eat every week, they play bingo, they go to the casinos on the bus and even stay all night there sometimes. .They're always having a good time. I should be out doing things! .Everyone seems to be having so much fun, but I'm here doing the dishes, watering the plants, feeding the birds, looking for bargains in the grocery store ads. .The most exciting thing I do is read a mystery book now and then and I hardly ever do that anymore."
You have to be thinking that this is a person who really ought to do all these things she's wishing she could do, or at least as many as possible, and hurry up about it! .I relucantly, though sincerely, agree that this is true - in order to make her happy, or at least feel like she's doing what she's "supposed to be doing" and doing things that are "fun." .But although I realize that a huge percentage of people, perfectly innocently because they never have thought much about it (and are not inclined to do so), are desperate for this kind of "fun" and think it's very important and a very worthy goal for them (and so I don't blame them and realize that there's nothing that can be done about most of them except to wish them luck at getting to do all those fun, "important to them" things before they die), I think those precious months or years they have left could be (though they probably can't be in their cases) better spent. .I think that although doing all these things, or as many as possible, can make a person with this mindset feel that they're doing "what's right," there are other things that are not so time-wasting/killing (as well as energy-wasting and money-wasting) -- things that would give them the opportunity to accomplish things that only they could accomplish - things they could do that might actually help one or more others to have a better life, and in fact that would give the person doing those things a feeling of having a real purpose and a feeling of great satisfaction, and a quite rare (I would think) feeling of self-control, that can never come from frittering away time doing "feel good" things that are nothing but playing without any reason other than to satisfy one's most infantile, selfish (although "innocent") desires.
People are, first of all, human beings, and human beings are members of a species that developed the same as all other animal life...and all living things apparently have the same basic (and sometimes only) goals in life: survival and reproduction. .If we didn't have an advanced type of brain that allowed us to consciously think, consider, plan, and have some control over ourselves, we would be controlled only by the basic needs that we are born with in order for our species to survive and reproduce. .That is our default mode, in fact, as we (present-day humans) still have the "animal" part of our brain, too. .If we don't stop and consciously think - a lot - and take charge of ourselves, the "advanced" part of our brain (the part that allows us to consciously think, consider various factors, plan, and control ourselves to some degree) would almost always lose out to the very basic, powerful, instincts that our very active animal brains are urging upon us constantly.
The point is not that we should deny what our animal brain is telling us; in fact, it's quite the opposite: It's that we should be very aware of what that animal brain of ours is trying urgently to get us to do, and why; we must recognize it for what it is, and make sure that WE (using our more advanced brain, which needs lots of exercise to keep it in charge) are in control (as a director is in control of some very independent and "fiery" actors) and can channel those primitive and often very dangerous urges into some "good" paths. .The strength of emotion, and sometimes even passion, that accompanies those urges can be very usefully directed to better causes (than, just for instance "kill; eat; have sex whenever possible") - and at the very least they can be modified by our careful thinking and our considered control over ourselves so that we act out our urges in a way that is harmless to others (and/or to ourselves)...That at the VERY LEAST, as I say. .There are many good things, many aesthetically beautiful things, many very extremely satisfying things, that can be accomplished by guidance over our basic animal needs and desires that only a strong conscious mind can accomplish.
I think that all of those people who feel they aren't doing what they should be doing, and so (they think this is why) they are unhappy and frustrated and feel they aren't "alive" could feel very much more "alive" if they had not suppressed all their "primitive" needs and desires that are surely there, somewhere deep down in their animal brains where they have been stilled and quieted by the mores of their earliest instructors (parents/church). .It's as if they freeze-dried the part of their brain that has the animal urges, or their parents did, and so they don't even know they could possibly have them -- They are so quiet...THEY simply do not have such urges, they think - and so their latent passions are as if dead. .Many who believe they have no such possibilities inside them for that reason never "reconstitute" them and those who realize they could do so are afraid to (and they are right to be afraid, by then, because they haven't learned to control them).
I am NOT saying that I believe everyone should not only be aware of their animal instincts but also just let them all have free rein! .("Let yourself go!!! .Let your food-and-sex-starved body and natural-born-killer mind free to do as nature would have it!") .No. .What I am saying is that we must be aware of those natural urges and needs; we must not "freeze-dry" them and deny that we have them. .We must instead be fully conscious of them, and at the same time strengthen and develop the more advanced part of our brain so that it guides and controls those urges so that they lead to great things, to beautiful, inspiring and humane things, not to cruelty, chaos, destruction, and so on.
So, there are three things that a human being can do with his or her "advanced" brain -- We can force it to deny and suppress the basic instincts and live a very shallow life; or we can can let our conscious brain stay asleep, allowing the animal urges take over our life; or, we can strengthen it by much hard thought so that it becomes a strong, considerate and intelligent guide for the animal urges, getting along with those urges and controlling them as does the strong and intelligent lead dancer who is in gentle but firm control of the "passionate" (and creative) partner - When the "advanced brain" and the "animal brain" are "engaged" they are indeed a splendid couple and perform a beautiful dance together. .This is what I advocate. .This is what gives lives passion and leads to the richest kinds of thoughts, behavior, and accomplishments.
To get back again to the old folks who want to go do all those "important" things before they die, I think they must be humored, as for most it will be too late to make them aware of those things mentioned above. They are sincere, and they sincerely have "fun," at least sporadically, while doing those things they desire to do. .It's just that there can be so much more to life, and it can be much more exciting, more rewarding, more interesting, and more humane...richer, deeper...than those people can ever imagine.
They will have their fun, but they will never get enough. .They must constantly have their "fixes" because there is nothing on the inside that they can draw on; their "fun" must be initiated from the outside; they cannot do it themselves, by themselves. .The possibilities are latent within them, but it is probably too late to develop both the "animal, creative self" and the "strong, self-disciplined, leading self" that, when both fully realized, can make such beautiful music together.
Those who know the power that lies within them, and have worked hard to learn to control it (not "suppress" it but "control" it and make it work with and for them) will not go from "having fun" to "really depressed and needing a 'fun' fix." .They will constantly be having a challenging and rewarding "good" time (though not "fun" usually in the typical sense), and further than that, will have the feeling that they are accomplishing something worthwhile (even though the "constant fun seekers" cannot possibly understand this kind of "enjoyment" - It is not in them to understand or they would have already done so). .The frustrations of those who acknowledge, encourage, and channel their most primitive needs and desires will come from being prevented now and then from engaging with life using their full brainpower and passions, combined - but almost all of the time, when not being prevented from letting their minds and passions work together, they may look "serious" to "outsiders," but they are having a fine, fine time, far finer than "funseekers" can possibly imagine; and they may well be enriching the life of others in some way while truly "living" their own lives.