Man’s Evolutionary Instincts for Love and Sex

Acharya Prashant: You are in front of food and you see how your body wants to lunge towards food. And do you know why the body wants to lunge towards food? Especially, let’s say, sweetmeats or high-calorie items? Why? – Because evolution taught it to, because the survival of the body is dependent greatly on the brain and the brain consumes 10-25% of the body’s energy. The body wants to have just energy and energy comes from calories, not proteins or vitamins. Even today when are you declared dead? – When the brain is dead. So, the body wants to preserve the brain the most and the brain requires a lot of energy. Even when you’re sitting idle, but thinking, then a lot of calories are being burnt. The brain wants calories and calories.

Just as a survival trick, the body is attracted towards high-calorie food and it says, “Just gulp it down in one go.”

There is another reason – whenever high-calorie food is available, let’s say, you come to a mango tree and there are four mangoes, if you don’t take them down immediately, they won’t be available. You cannot store them, there were no fridges and also there was a lot of competition. The monkey was your nearest competitor. Four mangoes, your tribe, the other tribe and so many monkeys, so what did he want to do? Eat as quickly and as many as possible. Now they are in, now nobody can take them away. So, the body learns to accumulate fat.

You know, the body does not accumulate anything else too much. If you take in a lot of vitamins, they will be excreted out. The body does not learn to store them; the body uses them rightly, but cannot store them beyond a point. Similarly, for minerals, salts—the body cannot store them beyond a point, where they are flushed out; but for fats, the body says, “More, more and more” and stores them till you become 200 kilograms. And when you become 200 kilograms, the body says, “Give me more of them.”

That is an evolutionary thing, you must see it happen.

You must see it happen right in the instant when you are attracted towards the scent of saturated fat, right then, “Oh, this is not me, this is the old orangutan.

This is not me, it’s him. And evolution is so lazy that it is not helping me unlearn what the orangutan had learned. And if I don’t unlearn, then what will happen to me? I’ll go down the path of the Australian marsupial. He remained wedded to evolution and was finished off. If I too remain wedded to evolution, then I too will be finished off.” What is it to remain wedded to evolution? To remain wedded to the…?

Questioner: Body

Acharya Prashant: Because the body is— evolution. To remain wedded to the body is to remain wedded to the lazy and lousy teachings of evolution. Those teachings are past their expiry date. They are not useful anymore, not at all useful; but we are still living by those teachings. Now you will have an alternate definition of religion. Religion is to not to live by the teachings of evolution, that is religion.

Most people live only by the teachings of one guru and the guru’s name is ‘Prakṛti’ , evolution. The religious man is one who has a different teacher. “I will not do what evolution has taught me, let me do something else.” You’ll also know why man is particularly wedded to thought. Man’s brain is very large; man’s brain is very very large compared to his body, what else will the brain do? If you have a large stomach, what will it do?

Questioner: Eat

Acharya Prashant: It will eat more. If you have a large brain, what will it do?

Questioner: Think

Acharya Prashant: So, thinking too is just a lesson that evolution has given you. Intelligence, therefore, is not about thinking more. And let it break the hearts of all the intellectuals. The more you think, the more you are proving yourself like the Australian marsupial, soon you’ll be extinct. You are just doing what evolution has taught you, evolution has given you a big brain and you’re always thinking.

Now, let me test you – Can you stop thinking? If you can’t stop thinking, then you are a prisoner of thinking. Just as a fat man cannot stop eating, you cannot stop…?

Questioner: Thinking

Acharya Prashant: So, both are doing what their bodies are commanding them to do. He is driven by his stomach, this one is driven by his brain. Both are driven by the body. Intelligence lies in seeing this game of the body happen continuously. And if you can see that, then even in the moment of the robbery or other dangers, you’ll be able to differentiate between lousy action, as dictated by evolution, and right action, as dictated by intelligence.

You see, had you been still a jungle dweller, then it would have been alright to be driven by the body. Evolution was very very right and evolution was a very commendable teacher till the time you were living in the jungle because everything that evolution has taught you has helped you survive the jungle. Evolution has been a great friend; the only problem is – you have moved ahead too fast. You have moved ahead of evolution just too fast; just too fast and you have come too far. And evolution is moving at its own snail's pace.

Don’t you see how far you have come? Compare yourself to a chimpanzee; now, you are a man and a chimpanzee is a chimpanzee, but your basic instincts are still that of the…?

Questioner: Chimpanzee

Acharya Prashant: Now how will there be a fit? You are reading Krishnamurti, the chimpanzee is chewing at those juicy leaves; but if your basic instincts are just like those of the chimpanzee, then you’ll be thinking of chewing the paper while reading Krishnamurti because all that the chimpanzee is evolutionarily trained to do is chew. So, even when you’re reading Krishnamurti, you’ll want to chew the paper. Have you not seen that happen with kids 3 or 4 years old when they start going to school? Some of them chew their books because that’s what young chimps are supposed to do – chew, chew it throughout the day. So, unfortunately for you, you have moved ahead, you have shot ahead of evolution with great speed.

Evolution is now standing there(indicating with hands). But, you are not prepared to give up the lessons that evolution taught you.

Most of that which human beings do today is still driven by man’s evolutionary instincts. Sex, greed, fear, attachment – all of these are evolutionary traits.

If you can see how you and the monkey are exactly the same as far as sex, fear, lust, and attachment are concerned, you’ll probably not want to show down the monkey. The monkey is at least right in its place. Monkeys need all those things to survive. The monkey needs attachment, the monkey needs fear; therefore all that is right if the monkey exhibits it. But, you do not need all those things and you’re still carrying them, so you are the real monkey.

Full article link: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles/what-is-the-source-of-fear-1_1b83f2e

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