Lately we have been hearing of more attacks by pit-bulls, giving the breed a bad reputation for violence. The debate is whether it’s in their nature or nurture? The answer lies squarely in their relationship with humans and our own troubled psyche. The behavior of a pit-bull is simply a manifestation of its environment, just as ours is – the difference lies in choice. A pit-bull growing up with fear and violence has little option whether to fight or flight. However, we can choose to evolve, becoming fully human. When we exercise the muscle of our minds, then the pit-bull also gets another chance to live in peace.
The essence of all life, including our own, is peace, freedom, and joy. Yes. I know it sounds like nonsense, but at the deepest level of nature, the microcosmic, mycelium level, it’s a scientifically proven fact. Unfortunately, we humans are probably the only species who don’t appreciate and experience this reality, ironically due to our advanced consciousness. What stands in the way of our own peace, freedom, and joy, and something we have in common with our mammalian cousin, the canine pit-bull, is conditioning and socialization.
Predominantly through fear of abandonment and/or death we have become overly attached to ‘the bones we have been thrown’, our cultural norms and values. We operate at such a superficial and material level of consciousness, due to our handlers’ censored input, that our predisposition is to fight or flight when approached, just like a pit-bull. Anger and violence simmer under a thin veneer of fragile respectability, with periodic outbreaks of madness and mayhem as witnessed in Ukraine specifically and the ubiquitous acts of human destruction seen generally.
It’s time to realign ourselves, individually and collectively at a body, heart, mind, and spirit level. This is soul work, where we balance the external forces of culture with the internal forces of nature. We need to reconnect with our extraordinarily evolved natures, learning to trust our instinctive and inherited wisdom. Instead of looking outside of ourselves for solutions, we are invited to take the journey within, into self. Through spending time with your body’s sensations practicing conscious breathing, your heart’s emotions practicing emotional intelligence, your head’s thoughts practicing mental flexibility, and your soul’s spirit practicing the interconnectedness of everything, you are emancipating yourself from the pit/prison of your conditioning. To find out more, please contact me, psychologist in Fourways.