For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT)
Fight or Flight – The Thinking Slow Series – Part 1
I believe that at the highest level of our true nature we were designed to think slow.
Wait… whaaaaat?
Written into our genetic makeup, our biology, whether you believe it’s by evolution or by creative design (or a divine combination of the two), is a pre-disposition to quickly collate a bunch of information, run it against a large array of previous past experiences and make a split second decision as to whether the situation/person/opportunity right in front of you is dangerous or safe.
This ability to make such sharp, black and white decisions at high speeds is actually a survival mechanism and has served us well for millennia.
For example, if you were walking along a country path and you came upon a long, skinny object, slightly resembling the shape of an “s”, your brain would recall previous experiences and exposures to an “s” shaped object and then, somewhat defensively, come to the snap conclusion that it was a snake. And for your protection, your brain would fire a signal to your adrenals and override any conscious ability of your body, causing the fight or flight response: You would jump back, almost without realising it, and a few seconds later, as your more cognitive brain function plays catchup, the information at hand would get more heavily processed, and a more detailed conclusion would prevail.
It was just a stick.
But your brain and physiology have done their job. And it is their job to be defensive rather than reckless. Because better to perceive a snake and it not be one, than the opposite occurring right? (High five brain!)
While this primitive protection mechanism has served us well, it’s not often that you encounter dangers to the degree of snakes and bears and tigers in your day-to-day life. But once again, your brain is still playing catch-up, but this time on an evolutionary scale, because as humans our society and technology have advanced at such a fast pace, and these dangers went from being a semi-daily threat to virtually non-existent in just a few short centuries.
Our brain, particularly our primitive brain (which is the part that can hijack our whole body in a fight or flight response), is still scanning and alerting us to danger in a somewhat defensive mode. After all, it’s threshold is set to “better to be wrong and safe, so that we survive” mode.
This over-sensitivity and the rapid disappearance of major danger means that our brain keeps pressing the “alert” button too quickly… and at things much less dangerous than vicious and lethal snakes.
But what happens when the major threats to our existence are eliminated?
Where do we point our pre-disposition to fear when the biggest causes of it are removed?
Surely too much fear will still keep us safe right?
Or will it?
(since, apparently, the Divine hasn't given us a spirit of fear…).
More tomorrow…
Written by Jesse Milani
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