Instinct Vs. Intelligence

[cly]

I think humans evolved from instinct toward intelligence and we will eventually act out of intelligence and not allow instinct to rule our actions or thoughts. Will this be going too far?...as we evolve should we maintain some vulnerability towards our emotions and or instincts? Would that make us weak?  

Shouldn't we be able to conciousnessly tap our emotions to serve ourselves at a time when we choose?... to be able to access emotion and or instinct when we choose to, but not to be swayed by emotion or animal instinct unless it is intelligently chosen?

I don't see evidence yet, as a whole, that we as humans are basing our existence/choices on our intelligence more than on our instinct.  In fact, I don't see the human population at the 50% intelligence 50% instinct mark yet.  Some people yes, but on average no... 

Any response regarding thoughts on this topic are appreciated, including any ideas related to stuff like how people in the military are trained to control emotion...but possibly they are then unable to access deep emotion if they wanted to, same with instinct..

Edited May 6, 2016 by cly

[Henri]

@cly May be you`ll like the following talk;

There are two basic instincts in human beings and these have been with you in all your lifetimes

There are two basic instincts in human beings, one is food, and the other is sex. These have been with you in all your lifetimes, when you were an animal and now as a human being. You are born out of these two – food and sex.

It is so beautiful that in this country (India) they connected both of these with the Divinity. Food is connected with God. In the Upanishads, it is said ‘Food is God’. When you consider food as God you will not over eat. You don’t simply stuff food, but you eat food with so much honor. No festival in India goes without food. And when you go to temple the first thing they give is some Prasad. Prasad is just a little bit of food that is given. Without Prasad there is no pilgrimage and no festival. Food is connected with God.

Similarly, sex is also connected with God. Otherwise you keep sex separate and think this is my material life and think of God as different. But here in India, the ancient people, they linked sex to God so that no aspect in you remains away from God. A basic instinct doesn’t remain away from God.
So when you honor sex and consider it as part of the Divinity, then your obsession disappears, lust disappears and sacredness dawns. And the basic instinct, from being an aggressive lust, gets transformed into a submissive love.
This is the ancient thought. But some people are misusing yoga for their enjoyment of the carnal instincts, this is wrong. This is a blunder. It should be the other way around. Whenever there is a carnal instinct transform that into a Divine inner experience.
There is a beautiful word in Sanskrit called Atma Rati, union with one’s being, oneself; rejoicing in one’s own self.

There are two things, Prakriti (nature) and Purusha (consciousness). Nature and consciousness inter play all the time. Your body and soul - your body is female and your soul is male. So their coupling is happening all the time, and seeing that union within oneself is Samadhi.

That is why Samadhi is considered to be a thousand times more joyful than the carnal instincts. Whatever joy sex gives, Samadhi is thousand times more joyful because there is no effort, and there is no action there. It is only Being and just Being. So just the Being consciousness, the play and display of consciousness comes to one’s awareness, comes to one’s experience. This is very beautiful.

Don’t keep any corner of your existence away from Divinity. The Divine should be interwoven into every aspect of your life and this is called Brahmacharya, which means moving with the infinity, uniting with the infinity.

Isn’t that so beautiful?! It is very deep and very high knowledge. If you don’t get it in one time, never mind, keep listening and keep understanding and one day you will say, ‘Ah! That is what Guruji was talking about.’

So here (in India) when you go to any temple anywhere you find both aspects – Shiva and Parvathi which symbolize Prakrati and Purusha, consciousness and matter. This is to first recognize the duality and then see the unity. They are not two, they are not different but they are two sides of the same coin. You are complete.

What does this mean? You are both man and woman. Coming out of this label, ‘I am man’, ‘I am woman’ - Getting out of your identity, this is Vedanta; the highest philosophy of the universe.

We keep identifying ourselves, ‘I am a man’, ‘I am a woman’, ‘I am old’, ‘I am young’, ‘I am educated’, ‘I am illiterate’. Throw away all these labels. What remains is pure consciousness. Do not even say, ‘I am consciousness.’ Just know that you are consciousness and not even say it. Don’t go around saying I am nothing.

Adi Shankar once said, ‘One who labels themselves as something is a fool and one who labels themselves as nothing is a bigger fool.’ One who is nothing does not talk, so just keep quiet. How can you say, ‘I am nothing’, when you are saying something?! There cannot be somebody there saying, ‘I am nothing.’ So keep quiet.

So when you consider the basic instincts of food and sex as sacred then aggression in you disappears and surrender dawns in you. Gratefulness and love dawn in you.

That is when it is said the devotee and the Divine have become One. They have merged into One!

It is so fascinating, isn’t it?!

By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

[Rocky]

@cly "Shouldn't we be able to conciousnessly tap our emotions to serve ourselves at a time when we choose?"

As we are an intelligent species we will be able to consciously tap our emotions to serve ourselves as we become more intelligent as a species more easily . The reason for this is because intelligence is defined as the ability to adapt  and not just defined as  the ability to know more and learn faster or more advanced information, therefore humans will evolve to adapt to (potentially) control and use emotions more effectively provided we become more intelligent as we evolve as a species and require emotions to survive as a species, and even if we don't require emotions to survive as a species in the future but we still have them anyway humans will have adapted to use them more efficiently as they become more intelligent, as adaptation goes hand in hand with intelligence.

[Nunzia]

These replies were interesting. It was a refreshing read. Thank you OP for posting. I enjoyed what you wrote.

I enjoyed the multifaceted responses as well. 

[Epiphany_Inspired]

Some instincts, like avoiding poisonous plants, are very valuable.... and I believe this extends to our interpersonal relations as well....I think it would actually be potentially devolving to move beyond some of these..... there are obviously some instincts that are not healthy,  that we should learn to move beyond...I feel the challenge is learning to properly distinguish between these, and systematically overcoming those that do not serve us...

Edited July 18, 2016 by Epiphany_Inspired
grammar