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The Origin of Upset

 

Drawing by Jeremy Griffith © Fedmex Pty Ltd 1991

Our teenage years (the individual)

Sobered Adolescentman — Homo habilis (the species)

Our original instinctive self or soul (the expression of which is our conscience), perfectly orientated to integrative behaviour, recognises what is integrative (‘good’) and what is divisive (‘bad’). However, it has no understanding of why integrativeness is meaningful and no appreciation of, or sympathy for, the intellect’s need to understand.

When large-brained Adolescentman Homo emerged some 2 million years ago, he began experimenting in self-management. Whenever this had a divisive outcome (through a mistake in understanding), his conscience criticised him.

But while we needed guidance from our conscience, we didn’t deserve its criticism. We were not bad as it implied we were. Tragically, we couldn’t explain this.