How To Be A Mammal - Part II

It's impossible not to be strategic, manipulative, plotting and Machiavellian, when you are unable to listen to the clear communication of another human being.

A case in point is the way I am continuing to treat my ex-partner, as if he were an animal needing to be re-captured. Despite his clear request to remain free.

As if he didn't know his own mind?

As if he can be tricked into thinking like mine?

How could I objectify another human being this way?

It's mammalian behaviour. It's how I am programmed to respond.

I am innocent of any stupidity or ignorance - I am not even making a mistake. I am behaving as my species is designed to behave, a result of the trial and error method of evolution, over millions of years.

This was the point FM kept trying to make in his books.

And mostly his ideas were dismissed as "fanciful" or misdirected racism.

Today, there is very little dialogue in the Facebook groups, emails lists, Congress papers and training schools about this vital aspect of the great man's insight. It's as though we are slightly embarrassed by his ideas. That somehow, it's best we ignore those parts of his work, and instead put our emphasis on the parts that matter LEAST: inhibition, direction, faulty sensory appreciation, recognition of habit and mind-body unity.

That is NOT what FM contributed to humanity.

Please - wake up people!

Sure, there's a few bloopers in his books - no doubt you've written things you've come to regret - but those misdemeanours, from another age, don't negate the visionary nature of FM's theory of conscious, constructive evolution of the human species.

Back to me and my break up…

For the survival of my species*, I am doing the right job.

Giving my behaviour an evolutionary perspective is a relief.

Forgiveness is redundant, as I did nothing wrong.

The only compassionate response is empathy towards the programming I inherited as a member of our Homo sapien species.

My wild and animalistic urges would run rampant, if it were not for my ability to listen to other mentors, to seek support, to gain the trust of alternate members of my species, who can reassure me that I am definitely OK.

(Yes, I need connection to support self-love. I'm not ready for the cave just yet.)

What prompted this line of enquiry was the masterful analysis of my behaviour from Byron Katie. Remember your Self as a mammal, as you read this, and see if you can relate…

"We use our beauty, our cleverness, our charm, to capture someone for a partnership, as if he were an animal. And then when he wants to get out of the cage, we're furious. That doesn't sound very caring to me."

It hit me like a train. That was EXACTLY what I was doing, and what I have seen others doing for years all around me. I am sure you have done the same.

It's OK. You're a mammal. You're innocent.

ENOUGH FOR TODAY.

*Of course I am sure the reader does not want me to ignore the inconveninet fact that I am writing about a homosexual relationship. How can that be a natural part of species survival? Indeed. I guess, I am not convinced that oxytocin much cares about gender. Nature isn't into perfectionism.

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