Positive Health Online

The natural world. A world full of information about life itself. A world that holds all the answers to the questions we may have about life. All we need to do is to observe it, and to keep looking. There is always something new to discover, as I found out.

Everything in nature follows set patterns. In principle, it is all the same. It is all grounded on the same foundations of survival, the same survival instincts. There are a number of build-in characteristics that form the basis of an intelligence that works towards achieving the survival of the individual and of the species. Intuition is what we call the natural behaviour that allows living creatures to find and move towards what will feed them and to avoid what will kill them. But there is more.

Let’s watch a bunch of puppies growing up together. Their basic needs are met, which means that they are well fed, they are warm and they are safe. They are safe because they are in an enclosed garden, free to roam around.

First we have to point out that amongst themselves they will fight for food. They push and shove, and if necessary they will bite. Soon it looks as if a pecking order is being established. The stronger ones muscle in first but others have learned that if they are patient and they wait, there will still be food left for them or they steal the bits that have fallen out of the bowls. They each use their innate strength, either of physical power or of prowess, to obtain their nourishment. But it doesn’t stop there. They will challenge each other to fights. They will bully each other. And they will curl up together, keeping each other warm and safe. The growling and the screaming seems to be an essential part of being a family, being a group. Soon specific characteristics of each puppy become clear. There is the explorer. There is the curious one. There is the quiet, reserved, one. There is the playful one. There is the observer and the I-am-being-careful one. There is a jumper, a runner, a walker and a digger. They are all different and yet, they share similar behavioural traits.

The garden is fenced off. In various ways, the puppies are prevented from getting out. There may be a hedge, a wired fence, a gate, a small wall, a wooden fence, a netted area, and so on. Nice and safe. Furthermore, why would they want to go anywhere else as they have everything they require right here, inside the fence? True, but they still put a lot of effort into getting out!

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/articles/fence#/media/File:SchoolFence.jpg

Security Fence for Schools in Korea

Photo Credit: Park Taeho on Wikipedia

In the garden they find all sorts of natural materials to explore. There are twigs and sticks to pick and nibble on, and to fight over. There are flowers and leaves to taste. There are trees to scratch and bite on. There are stones to play with. There is earth to dig into, bugs to chase. They learn what bites them, stings them, irritates them. There is danger but the only way to learn how to overcome that danger is to be confronted by it. And they do not shy away from it. One puppy might be a lot more keen to take up the challenge than another one, but they all watch, experiment and learn.

And so it is with the fence that is keeping them safe. For no apparent reason they ‘need’ to get to the other side. It turns out that no hole is small enough, no wall high enough, no barricade strong enough, to stop them from trying. They use their physical strength, their ability to jump, to dig, to scratch, to bite, in order to provide themselves with a possible way out. One or two are showing how it is done, but the others soon find their own way out. They all gather somewhere at the fence and their focus is obvious on how to get out. And somehow they always seem to manage it. When you have blocked one crack in the fence, they stand and whimper for a while, as if to say, ‘Hey, what’s happened? I could get through this.’ And then they move away in search of another possible weak spot in the fence.

When they do get out, they don’t go anywhere. They hang around the other side of the fence, exploring the new territory. Once they have managed to overcome the fence, the need to go any further seems to evaporate. Even better, after a while they try to get back in. This endeavour is not always successful as passing back through the hole that was created from the other side very often is no mean feat. Then it is crying time. Shouting to draw attention to the fact they need help to get back in. And getting back in is what they want. Once we are in, we want to get back out again.

Their obsession with the fence is obvious. Unless, unless they receive much attention. Unless there is much going on within the garden. Play time ensures that no puppy is interested in the fence. Being there and giving them attention keeps them busy inside the garden and the idea that it is an enclosed area seems to have vanished. It is mainly food and playing games that keeps their attention turned inwardly.

Fascinating! So What?!

Every life, single and group, is surrounded by a fence of some sort. We are not free. We are enclosed by a fence of rules, the ‘do’s’ and ‘don’t’s’ of this life. There are limits to how a life can develop and they are set by the environment of that life, by the fence that has been erected around it. And this is a universal truth. Every life is confined by its environment, is shaped by its environment and is stimulated by its environment. It is one of those patterns, set within the structure of life itself, present for every living organism and species.

Humans live in a fenced in garden. There are natural limitations to our life, and there are limitations and fences put up by other human beings. A full set of human laws we are supposed to live by, for instance. So what?!

All living creatures have the same basic makeup and the same way in which they function with regards to surviving. Humans are no exception, even though many of us like to believe that we are ‘different’. Hence, what we observe in our group of puppies are fundamental behavioural traits that are also present in human beings. Here are a few of those observations:

• There are different characters and different inherent skills;
• There is fighting for individual survival;
• There is challenging and bullying in order to establish a pecking order and to develop personal survival tactics;
• There is an innate curiosity;
• There is an obsession with the fence.

Although within the limits of our lives all the basic requirements are being fulfilled, there remains a curiosity and a strange obsession with whatever it is that is fencing us in. Even though we are being fed, kept warm and have a sense of security within the framework that has been setup, our garden, our living space, the specific conditions in which we are allowed to be, there still is an inborn intuitive sense that pulls us towards the fence. Somehow, for no obvious reason, we need to find a way to get to the other side. And some of us are quicker and more determined to achieve just that than others, but once the opening has been created, it is clear that others will follow. Some will use the already made escape routes, others will create escape routes in different places, based on the same concept, and still others will discover different types of escape routes. Soon most of the bunch is out. One can find them roaming around on the other side of the fence, not far away from it.

How does one stop this obsessive focus with what is fencing us in, with what is restricting our life? One needs to cover the basic requirements of life. So feed them, keep them warm and make them believe they are safe. However, that is not going to be enough. They don’t always want a safe feeling; they sometimes want to be challenged, pushed around and made to fight. They no longer appreciate the warm temperature when it is always present; they need to be made aware of and let them feel that it could be different. They no longer know what feeling ‘unsafe’ means, so they need to be threatened regularly. Once one realizes that creating a perfect world for human beings is only going to make them more determined to break it open, to smash it to pieces, one should organise specific imperfections within the human world.

Some suggestions could be:

• To create food shortages;
• To create food scares;
• To create extreme weather conditions;
• To create inadequate, low quality clothing;
• To create enemies;
• To create internal conflicts;
• To create threats to health.

For all the problems one creates, one must provide the solution within the garden. This means that one has to provide multiple feeding sessions, ensuring the portions and the quality is inadequate. It means that one increases the awareness of how dangerous nature can be and offer ways ‘to protect’ everybody. It means ensuring that fear not only keeps them away from exploring new grounds, but also ensuring that they constantly have to be afraid of others living in the same garden. And most of all, ensuring that they constantly fear for their lives. Whatever threatens, or seems to threaten, the survival triggers a massive response that focuses all personal energy on scanning and evaluating the environment. Constantly. No time for living. Only time to be afraid.

Keeping the attention of the occupants of the garden away from the fence is done by keeping them entertained. Playing games, watching games, inventing games and judging games, all form an essential part of daily life. As long as one is playing inside the fence, no one wants to go and play outside. Stirring up trouble, creating fights, is also part of the entertainment. As is creating fear. Odd as it may seem, but a fearful animal is in the first place going to sit still, unable to move as it doesn’t know ‘how to save itself’. It is paralysed by fear. Hence, it will not run to the fence to look for a way out. Fear is an important tool to keep the occupants of the garden focused on what is happening on the inside, which makes them ‘forget’ about the fence.

Whenever they begin to lose interest in the entertainment inside, they drift towards the fence. They, again and again, become intrigued about getting through it, under it, over it. Their unconscious mind drifts towards expansion, towards excitement, towards exploration. There is an innate sense of enclosure and limitation to freedom. There is an innate sense that there must be more to life. There is an innate sense that life is the way it is because of the fence that surrounds us. Allow life to drift and it goes for new challenges and new experiences. We learn, as all living creatures do, through personal experience. Hence, looking for new experiences is a natural way of increasing knowledge, which is what humanity needs to do. At present, we know too little about life to rest on our laurels.

If one wants to completely break this natural inner drive towards freedom and knowledge, one needs to erect an insurmountable fence around human life. Locking a living creature up inside an area, whereby the boundaries are clearly visible and tangible to the inmate, quickly imprints the idea of impenetrability in their mind. Having to resign to the fact that there is no possibility of escaping, coupled to a life deprived of entertainment, even if one is kept warm and being fed, breaks the spirit of the organism. It becomes a shell of its potential self. The unconscious stops looking for a way to live, which means that it is losing its natural drive and instinct. It exists. It no longer lives, no longer thrives on having to be awake and alert. It becomes a zoo animal.

The more restrictive human laws become, the more freedoms are obviously being removed, the more a sense of resignation filters through to the community, because of their total dependency on what is being provided. One becomes contented with the food that is being served, the entertainment that is being served and the safety that is being promised. Resignation to the fact that nothing can be done about it kills our spirit, our will to live. ‘To live’ means ‘to maintain or support one’s existence’. If we allow others to take care of this for us, we stop living.

What is ‘The Good News’ Then?

The fact that it is impossible for any fence to stop all interest in it. From the moment one fails to hold the puppy’s attention, they are eying up the fence. The instinct to explore whatever seems to be enclosing their lives seems so strong that it cannot be killed in every single specimen. Some puppies, when told off and thrown back into the garden scamper off to do something else. However, there is always one! No sooner has he been thrown back over the fence or he turns around heading straight for the place where he broke the barrier before. Time and time again. When you look him in the eye and lecture him about how it is, his eyes seem to say, ‘I know. Can I go now?’

Humanity has an innate drive towards more learning, more knowledge, and it knows exactly where it needs to get the experiences in order to gain that knowledge. Outside the box, is an appropriate way to describe that we unconsciously know where to find that knowledge. The unconscious mind knows it needs to get to the other side of the fence. Whatever the cost. This is a natural trait. It won’t change because someone wants it to change. And while all efforts are being made to keep us all entertained and focused on being inside, some will lose interest and wander off towards the fence. It will be impossible to control all individuals within society all the time. Some will get over the fence. Some of those will get back in and some others will pluck up the courage to follow and to try it for themselves. And some of those will come back, but again not to be staying. And gradually humanity will escape the fenced off garden it is living in right now.

Humanity will gradually move into a different area of enclosure, where different rules will fence them in and where the new challenge of finding and conquering that fence will keep them busy for the next period of time. But it will be awhile before they ‘meet’ the new fence.

Humanity will change. There is no doubt about it, as it is an essential characteristic of life itself. However, it will take time. The pressures inside the fence – more entertainment, more resignation more conflict – will continue to increase for some time to come. And more and more people will bow their heads with a desperate feeling of inevitability. Currently they may still have an idea that victory is just around the corner, but they would do well to understand that the way forward for humanity is directly through this oppressive time. It is finding a way to leave the known, the ‘comforts’, inside the fence well behind them. It is finding a way over, under or through the fence. Humanity needs oppression and deceit to be forced to truly wake up and to follow the natural drive towards creating their own freedom, not the so called freedom of ‘rights’ given to them by the creators of the garden they live in. Outside the fence, one is on one’s own, making one’s own decisions, learning what skills one truly possesses, learning how to survive in one’s own personal way.

Humanity will gain more freedom, a step up from where we are now. The natural drive to overcome the fence will prevail over the efforts to keep humanity in its entirety locked up.

Humanity will break free from today’s shackles, but we have to be patient and we have to allow the non-compliance individuals to take off, each in their own direction.

The future of humanity will always lie outside the fence of society.