THE REPTILIAN COMPLEX AND THE PSYCHOPATH

By Joshua Ball

The reptilian complex is based on the early evolutionary stages of the human brain, the inner cortex. Genetically similar to that of the reptilian creatures we see throughout our Planet, this region of the brain is responsible for our so called “survival instincts”.

Now let’s be honest, our lives tend to reveal themselves with a type of perpetual perplexity. A snowball of experiences of stability, of change and of constituency all at once but all together scattered along our many years, which helps us grow into who we are. More often than not we are hit with all forms of adversity, with unpredictable circumstances – there are many types of obstacles that we must overcome. But, rarely do we like to find ourselves in situations where we must think on our heels, where the severity of the situation is so high that the lights of our regular active thinking brain shut off and one can only see or feel the beating pulse of our own eyeballs, like a heart beaming red and ready to fight. That is in description, the fight or flight mechanism, its pure adrenalin, hyperventilation and the choice between kill or annihilation. Its very purpose is born out of utter chaos. In a World that thinks it thinks too much, it is a beautiful thing, the quiet reactionary genius of our Reptilian brain.

I think we can all agree with the notion, we mustn’t disagree with the mechanics of Nature. There is a genuine importance to be found in our ability to override long-term rationality for immediate survival. It is when this raw, emotionally cold and self-centred reaction to a dangerous situation becomes the everyday way of the people, the hierarchy of the system and the competitive spirit of individual interaction, that we have a problem. Then in my opinion, it can no longer be considered a Natural part of who we are as a species.

The overriding desire for the continuation of our own life should be a massive part of our inherit bio-mechanics. However, it should not take a front seat to our collective desire for the overall well-being and fairness shared among one another. So when you take a good hard look at the societal systems in place throughout our World, as a whole, 98% of us co-exist within a hierarchal system that instils, upon its constituents and us as a whole, the ever growing necessity for individual cut throat antics, external group manipulation via the creation and expansion of bureaucracies based on compartmentalisation. We live in a World that is predominately based on fear. If we don’t get our piece of the pie then we might miss out, therefore we must climb upon one another as we grapple for what we think is ours.

Do we really consciously agree with a system that is based on an erroneous fear based ideology? One based purely on the survival of the self, with total disregard for the collective? Isn’t that what a virus is? Let’s get real here, we live in a system that promotes the ruthless, the take all prisoners style pursuit for wealth, power and dominance over the rest. Like a proverbial vampire sucking the life force in order to cheat death. It is incredibly difficult for the compassionate to participate in such a psychopathic system. Hence, the control mechanisms created by the system are based on creating a sense of social pressures, the weight of which is enough to ignite the same reptilian reactionary chemicals, there for self-preservation, but used as a means of spreading the fear; spreading the ideology and making the general circumstance consist of a constant need for that instinct via socio-economical and security pressures.

The biggest problem I believe we are facing is our inability to admit to ourselves, to recognise or for that matter to face it. That is the Psychopath, in both us, and our society. We must not ignore the Reptilian Complex for if it is self-perpetuating and at worst a species ending Virus. If it continues to be unnaturally expressed as it is today, from our unnecessary fears, whether stimulated or endogenous among the people, if left unchecked it will feed off us and tear us apart. They say a genuine psychopath can be best thought of as a charmingly cold and calculating individual who devours life for the sake of enhancing their own life. How much longer will we let the system charm us?

However, before we all point the figure and place blame onto someone we might consider calling a ‘psychopath’ it’s always a really good idea to check that you are not just dealing with a regular asshole. Make sure to determine that it is not you that might be the one in this case being the asshole. In all seriousness, these are important ant distinctions and a good first step towards a cure. We must hold the cold and callous accountable, let them know that cooperation is a virtue, and every man for himself is totally counter intuitive. We’re a big family, let’s look out for one another and stop worrying about ourselves so much.

Photo credit: wikipedia – Nobu Tamura