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Emotions, Desires, Instincts and Drives By Richard Kieninger The complex interplay of
emotions, desires, instincts and drives which motivates our actions and
influences our thoughts can probably be better understood by sorting out the components
according to their respective origins. The animal component of
man’s nature—his body—imposes a set of biological drives which set him into
motion. Drives are essential to survival, and the most basic of these drives
is hunger. The depletion of food substances in the body Leads to a state of
unrest so that one engages in activity to find and eat food; and when the
body is replenished, the drive is gratified. The sex drive is the result of
an urgent need to relieve a set of tissue tensions brought about in animals
by wholly chemical mechanisms. The cyclical hormonal nature of the females of
all the different animal species starts a series of changes in her organs
including the release of a male-attracting pheromone. When the male of the
species smells the specific pheromone, it triggers in him a set of hormonal
responses which result in physiological tissue tensions and organ pressures.
In human beings, pheromones are absent, but the same hormonal responses are
set into motion by a psychological trigger. The sexual attraction between
animals is mechanical; whereas the human Ego is attracted to an Ego of the
opposite sexual polarity by a “magnetism” of the fourth plane of existence.
The last of the basic drives is avoidance of painful stimuli and the
corollary seeking of pleasurable stimuli. Instincts are hereditary
knowledge of complicated behavior sequences passed from one generation to
the next by genetically carried synaptic brain patterns. An instinct provides
an appropriate activity to satisfy a drive. Some instincts are seen in
migratory activity, egg deposition techniques, maternal behavior, mating
rituals, etc. The human vehicle has been deprived of all instincts save the
fear of falling and an aggravated startle response to loud noise. Desire is one of the
characteristics of Mind, which is an energy of the fourth plane of existence,
and therefore desire is beyond the animal level of experience. Animals function
like preprogrammed machines in accordance with their built-in drives and
instincts. We human beings tend to project into animal behavior our own
familiar human motivations. A cat’s cuddling to get contact pleasure we
interpret as loving-ness. A dog’s association of food source with its master
we interpret as loyalty. An animal’s striving to receive petting when another
animal or person is already receiving petting from its master, plus the
competitiveness for that petting if it is not shared, we ascribe to jealousy.
Animals have an Astral Body as do men, but an animal’s astral aura does not
register the animal’s responses to stimuli or the nature of its brain
function in the way that a man’s mental activity and emotional nature are
revealed by his aura. Because man’s Astral Body is frequently referred to in
metaphysical literature as his “Desire Body,” people might erroneously infer
that because an animal has an Astral Body, it too has desires. The astral
aura is merely the reflection of emotions and not their source. Emotions stem
from Mind Power and as such are completely absent in animal behavior.
Emotions are inherent in Egoic consciousness; and animals have no
consciousness of their existence, no concept of time, and no foreknowledge of
their eventual death. Animals may feel pain, for instance, but human beings
can add the emotions of anguish and dread whereby they can vastly increase
the intensity of pain. Emotions in their broadest
meaning refer to a stirred-up state of the mind and body which is reflected
in three ways: (1) emotional feeling which motivates (2) emotional behavior
frequently accompanied by (3) physiological changes. Intensity of the
feeling can range from barely noticed tinges for but a moment to powerful
passions of long duration. Anger may vary from mild vexation to violent rage;
joy, from pleasant contentment to wild ecstasy. Emotions in themselves can
be pleasant or unpleasant and can excite one to action or depress one to
withdrawal. The following are emotions which are reserved to man as a result
of his Mind, and no animal has ever experienced them: joy, grief, anger,
fear, guilt, shame, remorse, pride, misery, loneliness, awe, wonder, love,
hate, pity, revulsion, horror, delight, self-consciousness, jealousy and
envy. The first four are the so-called primary emotions since they are the
first to appear in the development of a child and seem least the result of
conditioning. Joy. The essential condition for joy is that the person
striving toward a goal attains it. The intensity of the joy depends upon the
degree of tension which had built up in the person in the course of pursuing
the goal, the importance of the goal, the difficulty of the pursuit, and the
suddenness of its achievement. Anger. The essential condition for anger is the blocking of
goal attainment, especially where there is a persistent frustration of
attainment with the accumulation of tension. Exasperation gives way to anger
if the frustration is prolonged, eventually reaching rage or fury. If the
person sees his own shortcomings as the frustrating agent, he develops a
self-destructive hostility; if he sees an obstacle or other person thwarting
him, he can develop hatred toward that agent and even be compelled to
aggressively destroy the obstacle or person. Fear. The essential condition for fear is the perception
of a dangerous object or condition that threatens one. A key seems to be the
lack of capability of the person to handle the threat. Animals know no fear.
Instead, they instinctively avoid close situations, and they perpetuate
identification of their enemies by sensing since infancy the contagious panic
in others of their own kind. Unfamiliar creatures introduced into a species’
environment are likely to be regarded with little response as long as they
keep their distance. A human being tends to respond to changes with anxiety
and apprehension until experience allows him to become habituated to the new
situation. Grief. The essential condition for grief is the loss of
something sought or valued. The intensity depends upon the value, and there
are all shades ranging from merest disappointment to a profound bereavement
of long duration with unbearable tension. |
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