Homosapien is a product of evolution says Yuval Noah Harari in his book titled Homosapien. What does it entail for a human? Does he have to have the information so that he may answer a trivia someday in a gathering or perhaps in an examination? Or should it be a catalyst to propel the human person have a look at their beings?
The latter seems for captivating since it appears to hold a promise!
Not to patronize, but one might think. An evolutionary being! What on earth can that bear on me so that I might be concerned?
Well let me pin point a few examples that might resonate with you. Do you get perturbed when you don’t receive enough likes on a social app? Do you feel emotional trauma when you feel excluded from a group gathering? Do you experience envy when someone you know gets a new something? Do you feel surges of optimism and conversely depths of pessimism? Is your anger an autonomous entity who is as disobedient as it is rude?
If any of the above is true then one might genuinely wonder why they have such feelings at all. After all what purpose do they serve apart from making us feel miserable?
The answer is simple- evolution.
The Homosapien spent lakhs of years as a forager in the woods living the life of a hunter gatherer and most importantly as tribal- the member of a tribe. So any disapproval or disfavor in the tribe could mean expulsion from the group which could have serious consequences in terms of opportunities for habitat, mating and overall survival. That’s the reason when you see modest number of responses to your facebook post your brain takes it as disapproval from the tribe therefore activating similar sections in the brain as might be triggered during physical injury delivering a sting of displeasure. Similarly envy makes you think your friend has claimed his stake at a resource that you may have wanted for yourself and since resources in the forest were scarce it would mean one less opportunity for you and therefore the pinch.
So what has changed making the above invocations a matter of regulation?
The modern man has played a very successful tune in theory and practice both. He wrote enlightenment on a piece of paper and achieved it through industrialization. What was the effect? A society of relative abundance. But the good old brain that has lived as a forager for three lakh odd years does not know that. And keeps triggering responses like a typical old grandpa that would be most suitable in a forest not in a posh society where there is abundance of resources: shelter, food and mating opportunities.
And hence the modern man has a problem at hand. How can one be in-charge of this brain that is wired foundationally as a survival machine? As expected, the answer is not simple unless of course we try to simplify the problem.
One way is to pray and hope everything is alright but data tells us that it works only to a point.
Another way is to take initiative and try handling the problem through consciousness.
Now, what on earth is that? Ok let me frame it like this. Tell me are you aware of your surroundings? If yes. Are you also aware that you are aware of your surroundings? If it’s a yes, again, then you’ve probably identified your consciousness. Remember those nights when you can’t sleep you ask the brain to shut down and get some sleep. Ever wondered, if brain is all there is. Who is making the command to even the brain? That right there is your consciousness. At the Mindeering the goal is to cultivate this conscious apparatus so that we able to better govern ourselves and therefore become worthy drivers to our body machines that are indeed products of evolution.
