Lower Instinctual Energies

So what is this instinctual core within our universe? Beginning with the closest motivator to our physicality, we developed aggression in the past in order to motivate physical survival. Typically we express aggression when we feel threatened. Both animals and plant life also exhibit aggression when they are threatened. Being more highly evolved, we now also exhibit aggression when we feel threatened emotionally, imaginatively and/or mentally. Our instinctual sense (i.e. faculty, ability, power) which developed coinciding with this energy is our sense of self-preservation. All life utilizes a sense of self-preservation in order to navigate the harsh realities of life and death at this level of matter.

Beyond surviving through our use of aggression based on our sense of self-preservation, continued physical survival necessitates some form of procreation. The various means of procreation developed throughout the past are demonstrated through the use of sex energy which powerfully expresses as our second densest instinctual energy/matter. The source of sex energy is the creative energy of our universe which expresses at every level in some form or fashion. Life evolved utilizing the creative force in sex for procreation. Therefore, procreation is our second instinctual sense that catalyzes continued life existence and evolution.

Take a Journey through our 
Spirit/Matter Universe

Our Instinctual Heritage 

by Jef Bartow

Whether one believes in Darwinian evolution or accepts the premises within metaphysics, our human species along with the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms have evolved from a more primitive past to a more progressive present. Much of who we are as a species was developed in the deep past and has become subconscious to our current existence. This includes developing the biological functions, senses and a body to live life at this level of matter.

There are certain characteristics, both physical and psychic that we exhibit which are crucial for sustaining life on this planet. They are so much a part of our internal nature that we hardly notice them. But without them, we certainly could not sustain life here for very long. So, just as real is our physical body, our five physical senses and the energy makeup of our physical universe, there is an instinctual world in which we live based on instinctual characteristics. The label instinctual is fitting based on the definition of instinct, which from Webster's Dictionary is: “an inborn tendency to behave in a way characteristic of the species;” “natural, unlearned predictive response to stimuli;” and “a primal psychic force or drive.”

The simplest way to understand our instinctual nature is by realizing that without certain automatic unlearned responses, we could not survive here. In the far distant past, the human kingdom had to learn these responses in order to survive. Today these responses, such as thirst, hunger, and fear help us survive. Just as we are now learning various mental processes, developing mental senses and building mental bodies, the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms are also learning things that are not automatic unlearned responses for them.




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I conclude that within our spirit/matter universe, there is instinctual core for all life. I label that core the Instinctual Plane. Since it is of primary importance for continued physical existence, it is naturally located closest energetically to our physicality, thereby becoming a powerful motivator for continued physical life. Eastern mysticism labels this Instinctual sphere the Lunar/Vital world. In Western mysticism, it is called the Upper Asiyyah, Gehinnom or Hell. In psychology, it has been given the names Pre-perspectival World, the Magic Structure, the Vital Sphere or Sphere of Animal Instinct.

So as to eliminate some confusion, we have instinctual parts of our physical body processes, our emotional nature, our imagination and even our mental faculties. The Instinctual Plane and its energies and senses form the core of our instinctual nature, not all of it.  The further we progress, the more parts of our personality will become instinctual in nature.


Mid-Level Instinctual Energies

Moving to the middle energies of the Instinctual Plane, we come to a mixture of fear, thirst and hunger. These energies were originally created from the reality that continuing life physically needs to include activities that will sustain the life form. The processes of life include "ingestion of nutrients." Our instinctual sense of activity facilitates sustaining all life functions. Thirst and hunger obviously help motivate the sustaining of life through ingestion of nutrients.

As to fear, it would be easy to see how it is an energy related to aggression and self-preservation. For us humans, fear is an energy that is also stimulated within our instinctual nature based on higher emotional needs and wants, imaginative fantasies and images and even mental reasoning and life concepts. This is why I conclude that fear is a mid-level energy within our instinctual nature.

The psychologist C.G. Jung is the first one that I've encountered in my research who determined that we have instinctual senses, just like physical senses. He was also the individual I conclude that coined the term "herd instinct." I conclude that the energy of herding has become the qualified matter that conditions and motivates our instinctual nature for more productive survival. Primitive man found that working in groups helped reduce threats to every individual. It also became a far more productive way of satisfying the needs for continued physical life.

Most of us have heard about how a group of animals will all run off a cliff to their death rather than separate from the herd. Plants obviously tend to survive better in groups with group protection rather than going it alone in the harsh elements of our world. Plus, we don't have to look too far to see how our human herding motivates a sense of security, comfort and happiness. Our herding motivator becomes reflected in the uniformity of our dress, fads, neighborhoods, etc., etc. 

What may seem a stretch is that I conclude that our instinctual sense of reflection contributes to our herding nature. A simple way to describe it is that as the individual human or animal reflected on the realities of life, we determined that individual activity, procreation and self-preservation could be powerfully advanced through aligned group effort, rather than independent means. So, codependency became a positive conscious behavior based on our instinctual sense of reflection.


Being a more inner plane than our outer Physical Plane, the Instinctual Plane is organized based on the number five. Therefore, there are five major sub levels or sub energies in this Instinctual Plane. All of life during some period of its history creates five senses within these energies, as well as an instinctual body. This body has been labeled by various fields of study as: life instincts, instinctual shell, mind of dynamic impulse and Id. Just as we experience physical energies and matter with our physical senses and maintain a physical body to sustain life physically, we also experience instinctual energies and matter with instinctual senses and maintain an instinctual body to sustain life both instinctually and physically.
Our Highest Instinct

Our highest core instinctual energy is the energy of relatedness. The refinement (i.e. spiritual nature) of relatedness goes beyond sexual procreation and herding. Over eons and eons beyond our imagination, life in its myriad forms of expression embraced the benefits of more refined interaction in relationships. Relatedness is really an instinctual expression of love. And without love at every level of existence, life would certainly not survive for long. Love, as relatedness, became another motivator for living life beyond survival in the hell of physical matter. 

Our highest instinctual sense is that of creativity. Without love and creativity, how far would we be evolved today. Both relatedness and creativity have become powerful motivators in accelerating life progression and growth.

Summary

Although many parts of our personality are automatic in nature, we do have a core instinctual nature that is vital in maintaining continued physical existence and life. This instinctual core provides our focus for self-preservation, procreation and relatedness. Without this inner source of motivation, life in the outer physicality, emotionality and mentality of our universe would have progressed much much slower. So, God in its infinite efficiency, organized our Instinctual Plane to accelerate both involution and evolution for us and all of life.