November 10, 2005 – The Primitive Being Within Us All

November 10, 2005 – The Primitive Being Within Us All

Why is it that some people around you seem to have more of something than you possess? In my days in the Navy there were at least two people I came across that had incredible appeal to women. Both were the most emotional transient individuals I’ve ever met, continually looking for fresh conquests. Others I’ve known have been blessed with the ability to find fortunes where everyone else around them sees nothing. Still others I’ve known have the incredible skill of making everything they do seem easy, playing a musical instrument, gambling in Vegas, skiing, basketball, rhetorical debate, etc. What provides them their innate natural ability?

It’s hard to fathom the source of this special gift, but I suspect it has to do with that other being that is part of us all, that none of us recognizes for his/her true worth. It’s the primitive being that is who we are when we’re born. It’s the entity that the logical reasoning being struggles to subvert and assume control of the person we become. I know this sounds otherworldly, but bear with me while I endeavor to explain. The baby that comes into the world looks frail and helpless, but if you’ve held a newborn child as I have held my two daughters and grandchildren for long periods of time, you begin to see something. All of those little beings are studying you as intently as you’re beholding them. Fresh from the womb, their sense of smell, touch, and hearing are the main source of their knowledge of you, and when their eyes begin to focus, they take the measure of you visually.

In the world before the reasoning being takes over, the world is a place of nameless forms distinguished by shape, texture, sound and location within the surrounding space. Some objects are stationary while others move, produce sound, have different smells at different times, even change their appearance. These small creatures instinctively know friend from foe. They know who will provide sustenance and who will only provide comfort and will complain when they are given comfort when they want sustenance. Notice too the muscles of these small creatures, they are not soft and pliant but firm and hard—made so by the continuous struggle within the womb: months of isometric exercising.

We talk to these creatures and they hear the words but read and respond to the body language, laughing when we laugh or make a funny face, serious as they listen to us recite rhyme to them about “Winking Blinking and Nod,” “the Gingham Dog and Calico Cat,” and my favorite “The Mountain and the Squirrel.” Their watching the movement of mouths and jaws and the expression of our eyes, studying the facial expression as one reads the signs in a continuously changing landscape. They are learning who we are by the signatures of our unique expressions.

That primitive creature is even more obvious once he or she begins to ambulate. As awkward as they are when taking their first steps, they instinctively comprehend the space around them, know where obstacles are they need to circumvent, know that they need to crawl to go under a low hanging object, know which space will accommodate their small size and which won’t. This suggests that this incredible creature comprehends his physical form in relationship to the world around him or her. For a being that has yet to utter an intelligible word or demonstrate an understanding of numbers, this is a remarkable ability.

Once ambulatory and even before, the infant has a keen sense of emotion, chase a child and they instinctively know to run. Pretend to be monster and they become apprehensive though knowing at the same time that the act is a pretense and not real. Replace the pretension of a beast with a growling dog and the response from the child is one of real fear. The sight and sound of sorrow in an adults face will engender sadness in the child, while the expression and sound of laughter will incite the same in the infant. Do something the child does not comprehend and a question mark clouds his or her face. Watch them master a task like taking their first step, crawling up a flight of stairs, or even more daunting coming down a flight of stairs and watch the sense of accomplishment spread over their expression like the sunshine piercing through a cloudy day. It’s a miraculous sight.

This magnificent creature is slowly sublimated as he or she grows older. His or her instinctive skills are overshadowed by his or her logical ability. The body language and guttural utterance by which they made themselves understood give way to formal speech. It becomes evident when the infant turns five and he or she begins to describe the world in rational terms. Everything in their world has a name and a purpose including themselves—a girl like mom or a boy like dad.

I started off by talking about what makes some of us luckier, more talented, etc. I believe it is primordial person within us: the remnant of the primal creature that remains after a million years of evolution. On the savannahs of Africa those many years ago, that primitive fought for survival in a vast primeval world filled with countless predators. It was he who found food and water, shelter from the rain and cold, escape from the attacks of predators including rivals who would seek to overwhelm his own kind. On the freeway of the modern world, he’s the one who instinctively senses danger and swerves to avoid a crash or intuitively knows to turn into a spin to gain control. It’s that same primitive creature that knows who around to defer to and who to overpower.

That primitive creature is the one that takes control in front of a crowded room when the spotlight comes on and the microphone is in your hands and you have to perform. It’s the creature that tells you the player with four cards of the same suit who just raised you last bet is bluffing. It’s that creature who picks the woman or man you’re going to marry, that tells someone close to you is hurt or safe after a disaster, tells you your now dead parent or loved one just touched you from the afterlife. It’s that creature who accounts for all the unaccountable things that happen to you in your life and the one that will accompany you on your way out of this world, too.