It's just life

I just contributed this post to a thread in the philosopher's corner on the topic of Fear of the Unknown and came to like it so much that I decided to post it here.

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I believe this is a very complex issue. However, it's also very interesting so worth spending some time on. I would have to disagree with the notion put forward by Words that fear is learnt behaviour and curiosity is natural. I think both are natural, but on different levels of our psyche and brain. The fear impulse is centered around the brain stem (the black bottom part of the illustration), which is the least evolved - in a Darwinian sense - part of our brain. It's referred to as the reptilian brain as it is essentially not more advanced than that of a reptile. The presence of this part of our brain is part of the huge paradox of it, as its mode of operation is in extreme contrast to the more evolved parts of our brain, the cerebral cortex. That mass of neurons and electricity is extremely advanced and has a virtually unlimited data-processing capacity, enabling what we refer to as the Modern Mind.

So at the bottom of our psyche is this extremely basic stimulus-response, fight-or-flight driven "lump". And you will find that the less evolved the consciousness of a human being is, the more they operate from the reptilian brain. For instance mass murderers, gang members, rapists etc will have their consciousness operating more from their brain stem than more well accustomed people. This means, however harsh it may sound, that some people are essentially reptiles in human bodies. Why do you think the snake in the Garden of Eden is such an appropriate image?

So basically, we have two levels of operation here - we have the cerebral cortext consciosuness that wants to evolve and then we have the reptilian part of the brain that wants to survive, whatever the cost. And you see, the unknown is a sort of death that the reptilian brain cannot handle, so it shuts down, becomes afraid and sends you, modern man or woman, into a state of panic. The interesting part here is that the advanced consciousness enabled by the cerebral cortex takes this current-moment (brain stem consciousness is never in the past or future) primordial emotion and complexifies it, so that we rationalize with extremely complex reasoning why it makes sense to base our future experience on the fear that the brain stem just experienced. So when the brain stem experiences a lot of fear (which it will later not be able to remember) and the cerebral cortex integrates it in the emotionality of the person, you have anxiety, depression etc. The most basic sentient being can be afraid, but it takes a high level of development to get to irrational emotions like anxiety and depression.

And see, this is why it is such a victory every time we conquer our fear of the unknown, as what we really do is evolve, conquering our reptilian brain and reclaiming our lost humanity in the process. So the harsh verdict is that a person who doesn't on a conscious and constant level keep confronting the unknown will actually on a very literal level be less human. A lot of the mental disorders in today's society stem from this very fact, every human being is drawn to evolve - as that is the directionality of consciousness itself, but when the brain stem's impulses become too powerful and the reptile takes over, this essential evolution is halted. And the pain of not evolving is the worst a human being can experience - you know, being a reptile ain't all what it's made out to be.

So there you have the inner conflict between the cerebral cortex and the brain stem - and the paradox of the human mind that keeps the drama going. Now that this has been made clear, let me confront the notion put forward by socrates sidekick that "The fear of the unknown helps us not exceed our natural limits,leading to a pleasurable existance, while exploration has in no way made our life easier." I claim, and I'm willing to put my life on the line to defend this notion, that a pleasurable existence is IMPOSSIBLE to attain without confronting the unknown.

So let's look at the downside of exploring the unknown. Yes it's true, our exploration of the unknown has lead to many disconcerting discoveries, but what you will find is that the discoveries that we don't like all that much today (guns, atomic bombs etc) were generally invented by a much higher level of consciousness than that which ended up using them (exemplified by the heart-shattering quote by Robert Oppenheimer, watching the first nuclear explosion lighting up the sky reciting the immortal words from the Bhagavad Ghita

"...now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds..."

If you ever heard this recording, you will hear from the tone of his voice that the world was literally crumbling around him in recognition of the evil he has let upon the world). The consciousness that invented the atomic bomb was clearly operating at an extremely complex cognitive level whereas the people we are worried will use them on us someday will primarilly be doing it from their reptilian brain. So feel free to call terrorists snakes, because you will essentially be telling the truth.*

So we have two choices, confront the unknown, death itself and follow the ever evolving train of consciousness - becoming ever more human (and indeed divine) in the process, or turn your back on it, cuddle up in your nice reptilian bed and stay a snake forever.

The choice is yours.

* (FOOTNOTE) However, the issue of terrorism is of course a lot more complex than that as the film V for Vendetta so poignantly points out. The mere fact that we label someone a terrorist doesn't mean that they work from a lower-level consciousness than us. It could in fact be that we have taken the liberty to define right and wrong when no such right had been given us, and that our definitions are so far off the mark, so ... evil ... that those individuals we'd like to label as terrorists are in fact operating at a higher level consciousness than us. In today's world, it seems to almost exclusively not be the case (even though it's hard to imagine someone operating at a lower level of consciousness than the US administration, I know), but in the future, the terrorists may actually be the good guys.