I would suggest that the hardware of humans is incredible, but our software lets us down. Our hardware is the hardwired parts of us that form our nature, and which we all have in common. Starting with our physical bodies – skin, muscles, organs, limbs, skeleton, we can call this our sensing selves. Then comes the fact that we are emotional creatures, our primary ones being anger, guilt, shame, sadness, gladness, and fear. These are universal feelings, from which all other emotions stem, designed to guide our actions. We are also cognitive beings with an inherent ability to think and construct meaning about ourselves and the world we live in. Finally, we are spiritual sentients, appreciating the finite nature of life and our dependence upon each other and our environment for survival. Our hardware is the sum of an extraordinary evolutionary journey spanning millions of years of natural selection for us to be naturally glorious, right here, right now!
“So then why isn’t my life working out?!”, may be an understandable question. And the answer is to be found in the nature versus nurture debate. Clearly nature has been evolving since the beginning of time and is steeped in the very existence of life, but nurture is founded upon a more superficial and temporal experience. Nature is the hardware, nurture is the software, and as we know from computers, both are crucial for optimal performance. There’s no point in having a high specification computer with weak and limited software, or a low-spec computer with the latest and greatest software. Right now, humanity finds itself in the former position – a highly evolved natural creature with a very limiting nurture experience. If we are to realize our potential as a species, and avoid being taken over by AI, which could be considered a low-spec ‘humanoid’ with fabulous software, we need to catch a big and timeous wake-up.
What is required is that we each learn how to nurture our own nature, something no one has ever taught us. Because we have grown up in a predominantly patriarchal and material culture, we have been programmed through the nuclear family, organized religion, and formal education, to be slaves to doing to have (materialism), without any understanding of how to simply be. In more ancient times, we lived in smaller communities of village and tribe under a culture that was more matriarchal and spiritual. Our programming was based upon the extended family, personal religion, and informal education, where we were encouraged to be (spiritualism), as well as to do. As a result, we lived with far greater peace, freedom, and joy. We have clearly gone backwards, and now find ourselves trapped in a time consuming ‘rat-race’ which allows little time for being fully human. The only way through is when our emerging, nurtured natures meet our pre-existing culture on equal terms. This is when we will transform from slaves to free and fully functioning humans, as we reconnect with our inherent and instinctive evolutionary wisdom, something which has always been there.
Put simply, nurturing your nature requires taking time every single day to simply be present with yourself at a body, heart, head, and/or soul level. Through practicing conscious breathing, you get control of your nervous system, energize yourself, boost your immune system, and promote your own gut health. Through practicing emotional regulation, you process your feelings fully when triggered, by identifying, acknowledging, and most importantly, expressing what you are feeling. Through practicing the work of mental flexibility, you identify certain automatic and irrational thoughts from childhood, put them through a proper inquiry, and turn them around into thoughts that are more accurate and relevant to your life as an adult. Through practicing meditation, you observe your mind’s activity, and gently bring it back to your chosen intention. These, along with other practices of being present with your natural self, like morning pages and cold-water exposure, bring you back into the here and now of your extraordinary life. Remember, you are designed for glory. It’s time to rewrite the program.