WHAT MOTIVATES US I caught this show the other night on Animal Planet about gorillas. As I watched (admittedly fascinated by the spectacle), I couldn't help but notice that the most dominate thought that kept poking at me was their complete lack of motivation. They were just sitting around doing nothing. The mothers were holding their babies, some of them nursing. The babies, as all babies, were restless and moving about like maybe they were exploring. At one point the guide mentioned that the big silverback had signaled an interest in sex. There were also scenes of the gorillas eating, ripping plants apart and so on. I couldn't keep myself from comparing this with human lifestyles, especially my own since it is the one I am most familiar with. I have occasionally berated myself for my lack motivation. But when I watch a nature show like this, I realize that I am behaving in a way that is perfectly natural. Animals in nature are not motivated to do much of anything but eat, sleep and procreate. I seem to remember that I once heard (or read) that lions sleep up to 20 hours per day. I no sooner mention this than I am reminded of a somewhat famous remark about sleep (supposedly popularized by King George): six hours is enough for a man, seven for a woman and eight for a fool. Whoever made this observation was clearly not thinking as a creature of nature. This whole business of motivation is a purely human invention. It is not natural to be motivated in the way that human beings talk about it. Motivation is a socially acquired attitude. We are encouraged to be motivated by forces acting outside of us. (Just think about the marketing business.) I am amazed whenever I come across a segment on television with children talking about what they want to be when they grow up. Do you think they came up with this idea all on their own? If adults had not prompted them to discuss this matter, do you think they would likely bring it up all by themselves? Somehow, I don't think so. I wonder what we're doing to young minds by exposing them to (and thereby coercing them into) this kind of thinking so early in life? It seems very unnatural. Why can't we let children just be children and fully enjoy their idyllic childhoods? Why do we put these thoughts in their heads in the first place? I think it would be truly ideal to allow a child to experience as natural a childhood as is practical, and then someday to discover what they want to do, not think (and talk) it to death before they're ten-years old. One of my primary criticisms of human society is that it is generally too contrived. There is far too much planning. I understand the need for planning, but too much of it takes away from our natural inclination to explore and discover, and it is only such purely natural behaviors that truly satisfy us. It'll Put the Fear of God in You, Boy
|
