On Survival instincts

So I had this interesting discussion between my friends the other day.. We were talking about how excited myself and my friend were about visiting the aquarium. The other friend said that he didn't like to see animals or fish confined in artificial spaces that wasn't their natural environment. While we agreed that it sucked to see the animals lose their freedom, we went on to debate about whether the aquariums served any purpose at all. He said that to learn more about the fishes, one could simply see the discovery channel or read a book. The other friend said how aquariums were necessary in some sense, because we are inquisitive by nature, which implies the need to study our surroundings for our the sake of our own survival. His argument went along the lines that evolution says that we do everything to ensure our own survival.. And it was the survival instinct that was driving every action within us.

I disagreed. I questioned, what does survival mean ? Was it just survival of the physical  body? Mental survival ? Survival of particular emotional state ? What is the instinct that is guiding the actions of a solider who is performing the act of sacrifice for the sake of a nation ? Clearly survival of the body isn't the state of mind that is driving his action.  While I agreed that survival mode of thinking was definitely one of the legitimate ways to think, there are alternative modes of thinking which were guiding our action.  My estimate was that it is the survival of an idea, the idea of the nation/duty etc, rather than that of the body which was guiding the action of the soldier, and at the same time could be guiding actions of others as well.

Another argument that seemed to precede this discussion was whether it was best to allow humans to intervene in natures' business, or rather allow nature to do its own thing without human intervention as the conflicting philosophies involved in the aquarium discussion. It seemed that human intervention would be necessary, for the time being for the sake of our own survival. But then things are as it stand, and the answer to this question can only be provided by time. However humans could be aware of the consequences of their actions while intervening in nature, that would question the survival of the very eco-system upon which they themselves depend being part of the nature. And it seemed to be the natural part of evolution of humans, evolving to higher intelligence so that their actions could be guided towards common good. Personally, I felt that given the nature of evolution of the critical mass of the human species, confined spaces such as aquariums which is a necessity now would not become so in the future as our species intelligence expands.

The blog title is called survival though .. Can survival truly be guiding our action ? In this time and age, money is being considered as the necessity to survive within the present socio-economic-political structures in place. And the more money we have, the better our chances of survival is, provided the structures are intact. Maybe having exposed to different ideologies, it seemed that having survival as your primary motivation to live in this world would appear to be seriously limiting. What about love ? Is love not a valid mode of action ? A much much better motivator ? But it definitely is the most vulnerable mode regardless. It is not easy, for it calls for surrender. Surrendering our own ideas to face the truth of what is happening. Painful it maybe, however long lasting it would be. When one is in love, all kinds of survival urges go away. A human would give ones life for one's love. Would give up physical, emotional , mental survival instincts for the sake of love. Ask a mother, a brother, or your children ( at times of course ). Unless the definition of love involves some kind of survival, I fail to see survival as the guiding light for the actions of many in this civilization.

It is at this point that it struck me .. how many have been chasing money as the goal of life for the sake of a better survival. I see survival as a necessity. It is a basic requirement. But why should one limit one's own life to just meet the basic requirements alone ? Why not expand to higher horizons, and engage in higher faculties or even express humanity through one's life rather than just a drive to survive ? Survival as a way of life seems to be primitive, and not fully suited to a species that has evolved to considerable intelligence to intervene in nature and deduce her laws. Love though,  is a game changer. :)

Part of the Love argument was inspired by actions of a doctor who is a social activist and whose love for animals and humanity inspired the hell out of me :) I part these words with his interview :)

Long Live Humanity ! :)