THE MIDDLE PATH -- The instinct --

I would like to start this writing by making the following clarification, since the subject and even the concept of what the instinct is can lead to a lot of confusion and make us enter into a mistake ending up in elaborations of what is not. We would end up more confused than when we started.

By listening to the word instinct, we immediately think of an irrational thought that leads us to perform any action that helps us in our own survival, either individually or as a group. And as we begin to delve into the subject, it is very easy to run into a type of perception such as intuition and be confused that by acting in consequence of what we perceive by intuition, makes us act from the instinct. It is not like this. What we perceive from what we can call a sixth sense, intuition, will not necessarily make us act from instinct. The intuitive perception can perfectly lead us to a completely rational reaction and I dare say that everyone who has an intuitive perception, in 99% of cases will react rationally in consequence of it. Intuition is one thing and Instinct is another. Intuition is receptive, perceptive and instinct is active, creative. Intuition is completely another topic apart from what we will be dealing with today, which is the Instinct.

Let´s define the instinct, then, as an active way to react or act, either as a result of an external event, mental or an own initiative, based on an evolutionary need and that at no time has passed through our rational analysis to be taken to the plane of action (although an evolutionary need could be a mental event, sometimes). In other words, it is not based on anything learned from one's own or another's experience. I would also dare to say that it should not necessarily be an action directly aimed at solving our extreme problems of immediate survival. Certainly, in most cases of extreme survival, our instinct will be fully active and ready for help, but so will the acquired non-instinctive knowledge (the rational one). This forces us to go a little deeper trying to find the basis of instinctive behavior (note that I'm calling it "instinctive behavior") that could sometimes make us act impulsively, depending on the situation. Let's go by removing layers on the onion. Acting impulsively as a result of something could be a rational act. The need to take immediate action would force us to act automatically in the face of the stimulus situation to seek to leave benefited or saved from such an event. Then the impulse does not seem to be instinct either, it seems to be an activating spark that allows the instinct to take an active part within the action to be executed and to leave from its latent state, to become an ephemeral thought and from there to pass automatically to the field of action without allowing us to become aware of where this action came from. At this point in the reflection, the instinct is seen as a complex but simple energy system that supports a non-rational action with a very specific purpose and previously established within the complex system of structures that constitute the Human Being.

It is said that a Mother, taking care of her children, especially the first, acts from the instinct when her actions were never taught, but we forget that this mother was also a daughter and received those cares, consciously or unconsciously they came to your mind to be stored and to be in a latent state for the indicated moment in which they are needed. There is hardly a definite act that is not learned directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously, voluntarily or involuntarily. The human body is a perfect system of perception and is active consciously or unconsciously 24 hours a day. Capturing, receiving and storing within your deepest mental core in which you store everything. There is no act as such, which can be called instinctive, but a complete mental system that acts automatically to allow sustain the body, the Being, within a permanent evolutionary process within their own or other environment. But what does it make a system of acting be Rational or Instinctive? If we now see that all actions have been learned through any of our perception systems. The separation comes from the Human Beings, being Rational Beings, thinking. By creating sets of rules, rules and ways of acting to allow a better coexistence among the cohabitants of their environment (Act not exclusive of Human Beings) It seems that this turns animals into Rational Beings. It is this set of norms that makes the difference between the system of instinctive action and the system of rational action, but both actions are learned. If there is something truly instinctive it would be our entire system of unconscious learning and storage, and it is a receptive, perceptive act. I love it when something lets see its paradoxical side. It complies with a universal principle.

I always leave the reflections somewhat inconclusive. Freedom of conscience is something that must be respected, at least for me, so I can leave space to that Freedom.