Primal Wariness

There is a wariness we all carry.

A primal unease humans have with each other.

A pattern so ingrained deeply into our cells that we aren’t always aware we are wary of each other and sometimes even of ourselves.

This built-in pattern creates unease and mistrust in those we newly meet and those we have known for some time.

Sometimes even our own family.

It is a pattern that has been with us throughout our lives and times of human history.

Remnants left in our Dna and cellular memory from historic times of conquering people and civilisations, wars, skirmishes, slavery, famine and servitude.

Conflicts!

Through the ages of human evolution, we were either the hunter or the hunted.

Many times both!

We have all experienced in one lifetime or another the feeling of hunting or hunted.

Compassion and caring were for the weak or the nuns.

The strong ruled!

They divided, conquered, created new civilisations and destroyed many more.

Tribes or villages were completely annihilated through war because one leader decided that one race or tribe were not to his or her liking or taste.

Sometimes purely because one tribe could not stand to see others flourish and prosper or their land was a better fortified spot against attacks. The reasons are many but the outcome though differing in some minor way still led to us the evolutionary bloodlines of those people being imbued with this pattern of wariness and survival of the fittest.

The need to take has been part of humanity's evolution.

Taking what is not yours, taking what they wanted that included other humans, livestock, maidenhood, families, food even women and children.

There were no exceptions!

Medicine women, wise women and herb women were in earlier times revered and taken for their skills. Later they were branded as witches taken beaten into a false submission or put to death sometimes both.

Men suffered as equally if they refused to fight they were classed as weak and beaten til they succumbed to death or swore to follow the clan leader.

Mistrust and wariness are our natural nature.

I reflect, Is this wariness a learned programmed behaviour or is it a primal instinct?

Is this something we have programmed so deeply in us like the fight, flight, freeze response of our nervous system?

Is this our primal survival mechanism?

Whatever it is it seems to be stronger and more present in some people and not others or is that because we as humans have done a damn good job of covering our emotions and hiding from ourselves.

No matter whether you believe we evolved from apes or we came from one of the many religious stories or if we came from the stars it matters not, for the here and now we are human and we have experienced through our human lifetimes on this earth, war destruction. abuse, betrayal, death, coercion, brutality and so much more.

It is no wonder we don't trust easily!

As I reflect on this I wonder if this is because it is our natural tribal ingrained instinct or if it is our innate intuition that says move on don't connect with this one.

My feeling is it is a bit of both.

My personal observations have given me many things to ponder about our inherent wariness and how and when it shows up.

I have noticed how defensive I myself react to being asked questions by a stranger that calls or comes to my door or when someone I am acquainted with crosses some invisible line and becomes to personal for my liking.

Even in the most innocent moments when someone strikes up a conversation in the supermarket or in the street the wariness awakens

Humanity has an innate wariness, but where does it start and when does it stop?

Can we even stop or change it?

I don't know!

Dr Bruce Lipton has many books and interviews about epigenetics, about how we humans store emotional imprints in the layers between our gene cells. His work speaks of being able to change these imprints. I would like to believe then we have the ability to change the wariness and become more open to trusting. But in a society laced with violence, senseless deaths, destruction of land, animals and oceans add the influences of war still around us not to mention the prejudices and lack of acceptance of anyone that is different it makes sense that we continue to live in a wary state of being.

These are my personal reflections, I am not a psychologist counsellor or health care practitioner, I am an everyday person who often thinks and reflects to much on things I will likely never get an answer to.

Next time you meet someone new or get closer to someone you know and you feel an unease check in with your gut instinct.

Are you being wary?

Are you feeling threatened for no valid reason?

Are you like the cornered animal that is looking for an escape route?

If so take some time to reflect on your own feelings, it may surprise you what comes to the surface.

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