We have a brain designed for harmony and peace; but our brain is also designed for anger and fear—to attack and defend; to hunt and kill.
Both tranquil and aggressive, these natural human behaviors are “hard wired” into us. These instinctive reactions helped when we were hunter-gatherer groups of 28 to 30 people living an average age of 30 to 35.
We were also designed to be predators as a method of getting food and acquiring “territory” where we could hunt and gather. This helped us survive, but does not work so well in the modern world.
In the modern world, we are forced to “find ourselves,” to find our natural capacity for peace and act on it, hold it foremost… if we are to survive and not destroy ourselves en mass or piece by piece.
We are now all involved in a grand experiment of socialization with a requirement to be at peace if we are to survive; but peace, harmony and reconciliation do not naturally happen in the course of human events. We are designed for the fight as well as the tranquil hearth.
Our human brain is designed to act like a predator–like a lion, tiger or bear; we have essentially the same brain as these animals. But there is difference: We have a more evolved and larger outer brain, a “cap-like” cerebral cortex that sits on top of the predator brain, cradles it and tries to make us sociable, stable and peace abiding by providing “higher thinking” and greater control over emotions.
The front of cerebral cortex, being larger in humans, allows us to control the natural urges to fight and retaliate in exchange for social cooperation. As times it is easy to control misplaced aggression—sometimes it’s a challenge.
The catch is we have to CHOOSE to control aggression, if we are to control it. And the more aggression you experience in your life, the harder it is to control it.
