“We can ascribe many of the details of our nature to the distinct way we evolved as a social animal to ensure our survival. Being able to understand more clearly the stranger within us would help us to realize that it is not a stranger at all but very much a part of ourselves, and that we are far more mysterious, complex, and interesting than we had imagined. And with that awareness we would be able to break the negative patterns in our lives, stop making excuses for ourselves, and gain better control of what we do and what happens to us.” – Robert Greene

The thought patterns we display, the emotions we feel, the ways we communicate, the manners in which we think, and our deep-rooted triggers to name a few, are all components of our human nature. A nature that has been evolving for thousands of years. Without including a section on this unarguable reality, to move forward without briefly highlighting how your nature as a human affects your day-to-day life, would be naïve of me to do as I believe that at the very least including a brief understanding of the topic in discussion would be doing you an injustice.

Let’s start with how our survival, for hundreds of thousands of years, depended largely upon our compatibility within the tribes our primitive ancestors evolved in. It was at this moment in time where humans developed the ability to communicate, how to coordinate actions within a group, how to cooperate with one another, and even formulate the need to rank ourselves and measure our self-worth through our status within the group (has social media done anything other than fuel this fire?). The chances of survival for those who lived through these times relied heavily on these specific factors, along with their proactive ability to predict potential threats and avoid them at all costs.

This is the way we evolved and it’s currently the foundation of the much evolved human brain. The same brain that occupies your skull, today. The same brain that’s responsible for producing the worrisome, destructive, and limiting thoughts that unfailingly deter the quality of your experience. Our minds were molded under serious distress. During times that are, more than likely, especially if you have access to the resources to even be holding this book in the first place, foreign to us now. Robert Greene explains in his book The Laws of Human Nature how “all living organisms depended on finely tuned instincts for their survival for millions of years. In a split second, a reptile could sense danger in their environment and respond with an instantaneous flight from the scene. There was no separation from impulse and action.” He goes on by explaining how, for some animals, this sensation turned into something larger and longer – It started with being a present fear to a feeling of fear. And from there, birthed anxiety. 

Take note that, although these are brief explanations, discovering and understanding these concepts on a fundamental level will cultivate a deeper understanding of yourself. Better self-awareness. By turning your back to these facts and denying their contribution to the way you function in the modern world, would be to deny your nature as a human being. A homo sapient. You’d be actively choosing to remain ignorant, unaware, and ultimately lost. How could it be possible to break the destructive thought patterns, overriding emotional responses, and illogical fears that are binding you to the version of yourself you wish to surpass if you never seek to understand how the concepts of your intuitive human nature are integrated with your daily experience?  We, together, need to dissect how these historic encounters are attributed to the cognitive powers we’ve constructed today.

Over thousands of years our brains have evolved into what’s now known as the mammalian brain. Greene does a fabulous job breaking this down into its three overarching components. “The oldest is the reptilian, which controls our automatic responses. The instinctive parts. Second is the limbic brain which governs our feelings and emotions. Lastly comes a more recently evolved part of the brain known as the neocortex. This part oversees our cognition and language.” He continues by demonstrating how emotions are brought up as sensations that originate with the purpose of capturing your attention. Emotions want you to take inventory of something that’s going on around you. And because they begin as chemical reactions and sensations that we must translate into words to try and understand, it becomes difficult to fully comprehend their meanings because they’re processed in a different part of the brain from language and thinking. This is why our translations are often inaccurate. He finishes this piece by adding in, “The first step towards becoming rational is to understand our fundamental irrationality.”

We’ve learned that the neocortex is our thinking, conscious brain. The one that is rational and sees things clearly, without being influenced by emotion. However, what frequently leads us astray and what forces us to make improper estimations, unnecessary mistakes, and poor decisions is our inability to stay levelheaded amidst the flusters of emotions we experience. When our minds become overthrown by these impulsive sensations, it forces us to play our hands and behave in a way that’s rooted in irrationality. It becomes vital to your progression that you take note of this reality and work to understand it practically and profoundly.

Without:

1) Understanding how you function as a human…

2) How your thoughts are primitively influenced by your stimulating responses to what you perceive as danger, an uncomfortable change in your environment, or a natural desire to acquire status and…

3) How you as an individual have been uniquely affected by the experiences you had…

Your longing to evade the obstacles obstructing you from becoming the best version of yourself becomes an insurmountable hurdle on your track towards doing so. The emotional, irrational part of you flourishes on ignorance. You must seek clarity. You must study your nature. Ask questions. And as you get better at analyzing yourself, you’ll later be able to examine others as well. Because we’re all one in the same. All humans are born with and operate under the programming of the same nature. What differentiates us, then, is the occurrences we’ve encountered.

Greene goes on in the book by pointing out how, “Progress and technology have not rewired us; they have merely altered the forms of our emotions and the type of irrationality that comes with them. Human nature has not changed. It is the split between our emotions and cognition that is the source of our constant internal friction.” For instance, take the need to rank ourselves amongst other members of our tribes as mentioned previously from our primitive days. This can be translated and seen in our contemporary world. Men, then and now, typically, seek to attract a female partner with whom they can go through life with, mate with, and ultimately have children with so that their family name survives and lives on. The initial attraction is usually a physical one, where beautiful looks and desirable figures draw them in. Women, on the other hand, would seek to attract a male partner through their capabilities of being eye-catching and seductive. Thus, they competed amongst themselves to look the most appealing in order to attract a male partner. The males of the highest appeal for the females were those often those with the most status. Why? Because it was he who had the highest likelihood of obtaining the means to protect them, provide for them, and keep them safe. Now, this isn’t greatly unparalleled from the realities we find ourselves navigating today. I’ve been able to see this unfold all around me as social media has done a tremendous job painting the picture. Men today seek status. More likes, more followers, more money means they can post cooler cars, or from more prestigious locations, while wearing the most luxurious clothing. This relays the message, “I have money, I can protect you, I have status, etc.” The women have evolved now to post themselves in inappropriate ways to gain the attention of the men with the most prestigious titles and status. The follower counts, the checkmarks, and the likes and comments tell the story. If you can see how, in some facet, how this foundationally a part of our nature as human beings, maybe it will help you bring more compassion to yourself and those who are lost in the matrix of social media. At the same time, it’s the awareness that comes from understanding your nature that may enable you to see how you can evade yourself from falling into these traps of comparison and distraction. Without a clear comprehension of how your nature affects you, drives you, and motivates you, even today, you may find yourself losing to your impulses, cravings, and natural responses. Thus, to aid your self-discovery, the same discovery that will allow you to elevate yourself effectively and optimize your experience practically, you must not remain ignorant to the influence your human nature has over the attitudes, beliefs, and reactions you use as your framework for action today. Because they’re influence is grand, whether you want to admit that or not. Study your nature, examine it, and watch it in play so that you can obtain the baseline of awareness that will allow you to act in line with better, more controlled, and intentional versions of yourself. Peel back each layer carefully, and audaciously.

Do not stubbornly advance without, at bare minimum, igniting your expedition towards gaining some brief understanding of your human nature.