99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step #31

The primal / personal divide:

Continuing on from the previous step, let us revisit the relationship of the primal nature (base state), to the conscious, nurtured conditioning that occurred over the course of our early life in regards to the nature states. We tried to cover, however simplistically, the forming of the substance of our emotional make-ups, and how they are manifested in our lives. Now comes the complex challenge of trying to universally convey as a model, the intertwined workings of the primal and personal machinations that make us singularly specific, but yet commonly the same.

Many scholars and individuals have done exhaustive work in these areas. But as a recap, it was a mandate of this course not to include any materials of particular individuals or ideologies as reference here, not because they do not deserve their just due, but because as was stated very early, nothing you will read here is new, revolutionary or exclusive. It was felt that omitting reference to outside sources would encourage the individual to do his or her own research, and further that it would not colour this material with any personal belief or ideological bias. And finally, and which has been reiterated several times (apologies) It is incumbent on the individual to do their own investigation into the complexities of the human nature, for you must be committed to deeply understanding your own nature, before you can even assume to gain mastery over it. That said we will now continue...

If we take our emotional makeup down to its lowest common denominator, we would have two basic states. That which feels good, and that which does not. Included in that basic primacy would be all the absences of pain, discomfort, fear, remorse, and all the desired states of pleasure, comfort, security and self worth. We all desire the latter and are repelled by the thought of the former. (This without out digressing is in respect to the average balanced individual, as we have touched on briefly before, this does not take into considerations the unfortunate state of social or mental malaise.) This basic state we would assert to be the primal state, all share these basic ideals, all would cherish the fullness of the one and the absence of the other.

This primal state was the condition we referred to in the previous step as the un-programmed circuit board. Our own personal life experiences have programmed that board into the set of emotional natures (nature states) we have today. We are all different, we are all the same. A simple summation to a very complex paradigm, and it will be our own personal responsibility to understand that complexity in ourselves, but also, to be reassured, that we are not the incomprehensible maze of complexity that we thought we once were. If we will embrace this reality, the ordering of our nature states will take on a whole new comprehensibility, and the authorship of their structuring and regimenting will become a plausibly achievable goal.

This would be a very advantageous time to return to step #12 review the lists we made under the three main hierarchies of  "Inquisitive state", " Hesitant state" , "Neutral state" Is there anything you would like to add reorder, or clarify? Having a better understanding of the motive now, may help you to clarify this step more concisely. If not it would be good to review this step anyway, for it ties in succinctly here.