Fear

Fear keeps us safe. It prevents us from pulling foolhardy stunts that could put us in mortal danger. Fear when taken to the extreme can become phobias which tend to be inexplicable in rational terms. If one is oriented toward Eastern Philosophy then the answer would point to karma and reincarnation.

Fear is also big business as exemplified by movies and books and a top-rated TV show Fear Factor banners it as its title. Fear of Technology can cause a man to peck away at a typewriter instead of a computer depriving himself of the joys of email and blogging.Even if fear scares the wits out of us we nevertheles have a kind of cathartic benefit from finding out the threat was unfounded. That is, if it is not real like in the movies or books or comics. But when we're alone and in the dark that is a different matter altogether.

Fear of the unknown or the supernatural can be a terrible thing and as I was growing up I heard the stories of demons and witches and all sorts of unworldly and fearful creatures. It was so bad and I decided to put an end to this unreasonable fear by putting it to the test. One of the greatest bogeymen for Christians and Catholics is the Devil and he is a powerful reason to ally oneself with God or he's gonna get you. So I issued a challenge to the Devil to wrestle with me on Good Friday when Jesus would be on leave from protecting pious Christians. I shouted for him to show his face in a dark secluded spot where he was reputed to favor. He never showed.

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Sex

Sex, like sleepiing and eating is an instinct which gives intense personal pleasure and satisfaction (often, hmmmm, sometimes but, that is another discussion) and most frequently followed by sleep or resting, which can be bothersome to a girl who is still wide awake and wanting for more. Girls, or should I say women or more accurately, the female of the species, tend to take longer to start, require steady stimulaton to simmer and, prolonged and constant pounding to come to a successful conclusion. A daunting task for the male if he fancies himself as a competitor in the Sexual Olympics.

Sleeping after sex or, should I say resting after sex is often followed by hunger being felt. Well, I think it is logical to consider that the act of having sex causes energy to be spent requiring the need to rest and eat to recharge and replenish lost resources and possibly to prepare to lose some more iin another round of grunting and panting, of moaning and possibly squealing or screaming in a symphony of having sex, or making love, or fornicating if one is uptight about it, . In the male, the act of ejaculation is closely coupled to orgasm leadinig most to believe that the two are one and the same.

It used to be that sex was a taboo subject and something that boys need to be experienced in or to say he has had some if he was to be respected by his peers but mostly if he wants to have his self-respect and, something that girls were not supposed to be curious about if she did not want to be called a slut. Nowadays, sex has been taken away from the back alley to the front door where Oprah Winfrey talks about sex right in your living room. Books and magazines on sex climb over each other for the best display spaces in bookstores and magazine stands. Larry Flynt must feel vindicated.

Eating

We eat and extract the nutrients from what we eat and excrete the rest. Every living thing does some form of eating. For plants and trees the food they need is carbon dioxide, the stuff that we exhale. Our excrement is also good food for plants and trees being rich in the nutrients that plants relish on. Oxygen is released by plants after they absorb carbon and this gas is something that we need to survive. Plants themselves are a good source of nutrients for animals and people. Nature has perfectly created a system which should be able to sustain itself for a long time. Nothing is ever wasted, everything is recycled if Nature were left to her own devices.

Man has invented Agriculture to ensure that food would never be scarce. He has used his intellect to construct barns and silos and storage facilities to preserve his crop and keep them from spoiling. He has become capable of producing more than he needs and so he does. What does he do with the surplus? He trades it for things that he doesn't have. So other people plant other stuff or maybe raise animals and become experts in their respective fields. Man has liberated himself from being a hunter and a gatherer. He has learned to become a specialized productive unit interacting with other productive units.

Pretty soon money was invented to facilitate the trading of goods. From the basic need to eat has evolved a complex system of commerce and trade making sure that there is always plenty to eat and this has resulted in another big bang of sorts, an explosion in population growth.

Sleeping

There is day and there is night. There is black and there is white. There is empty and there is full. When I was younger I hated it when the day had to end. At one or two in the morning only the dogs are awake; they are so fidgety and nervous, the slightest sound rouses them from their sleep. Long after my friends have gone home I am still awake and often I look up at the sky and watch the many stars that dot it and wonder what my life is all about. I did nothing but wake up in the morning, go to school and hang out with friends until the day turned to night and night turned to past midnight.

There seems to be an endless number of things to talk about when one is young never mind that they tend to keep repeating over and over and over. It's like a day that ends and starts and ends again. Like a procession of ants, one passing the other and on and on and on; the procession of ants keeps going on endlessly, tirelessly, mindlessly. I never wanted to sleep, too much activity going on in the mind; nothing great, nothing earth-shaking, just ordinary, simple stuff important only to myself.

The four basic instincts continued..

The basic instinct that is directly related to the survival of the species is sex. One might say that the individual does not really think of the species when engaging in sex rather, he/she is directly, actively and frantically trying to relieve the immense tension in the loins.

When sublimated, this instinct is transformed into a higher emotion called Love and on its altar are offered innumerable follies. It is due to the very high status afforded this metamorphosed instinct that the law has a special distinction for crimes committed in its name collectively known as, "Crimes of Passion".

Kingdoms are destroyed and people's lives are lost because of it as in the case of Paris, a Trojan prince and Helen, the wife of Agamemnon a Greek King. The story of Aeneas and Dido illustrate how difficult it can be to be "in love" when duty is involved. And who can fail to mention the tragedy of the young lovers Romeo and Juliet in the face of a family feud?

Sexual energy when sublimated can result in great art and music. Further sublimated it can lead to divine ecstacy as in the case of St. Theresa of Avila. The same sexual energy when channelized towards the higher planes can lead to samadhi or the ecstatic union of the Shiva and Shakti (the Male and Female principle). The ancient Taoists strove to attain the unification of Kan and Li or the Congress of Heaven and Earth.

When improperly channelled or perversely handled it can lead to insanity. Although it can be a badge of some sort to be "Crazy in Love". He he he.

The four fundamental or basic instincts

All animals, man included have the accumulated knowledge of thousands of years of evolution distilled into four basic instincts: FEAR, SEX, EATING, SLEEPING. Three of them relate to the individual survival and one pertains to the continuation of the species. The ancients describe the seat of these instincts as the Muladhara Chakra which is situated in the tailbone.

Fear ensures the safety and continued well-being of the individual creature by keeping it away from danger or potential danger. Without the instinct called fear, lambs would walk up inquisitively to a predator like a wolf and be lunch. Which would probably decimate the sheep population except for one thing that could probably mitigate if not prevent it and that is maybe wolves would get all fat and lazy and arteriosclerotic and they would have health problems to hamper their lamb-eating proclivity.

Eating obviously keeps the engines running and is a strong motivator for doing something. Hunting, grazing and in the case of man, raising animals to be eaten dominate the main activities of animals, man included. It is a clear indication of man's advanced evolution that he has a craving for ice cream or chocolates even though lower animals do have their own type of sweet desserts like honey for instance. Owing to man's more complicated brain and nerve structure he is able to preserve food in interesting ways: smoking, drying, salting, putting preservatives which may be harmful to him, inventing the refrigirator, etc.

While eating and fear directly relate to activity and play. sleeping is the safety valve that keeps the creature's engine from overheating. In sleep the tissues are given a chance to repair themselves. Energy too is conserved and what the animal cannot accomplish in his waking hours he achieves in dreams.