Where Does Instinct Come From?

I’ve had pretty good survival instincts through the years, down the road, and across the miles of time. When a bridge needed crossing, I made it just in time. Change lanes? Yep, I switched just in time.

Then, months ago, we watched our German Shepherd grow in her pregnancy twice. My bride read all the details and looked for our role. Then, last week, it came to me that our GS, Chewy, would know what to do at the right time. Without training classes or someone to coach her, she will know precisely the proper steps to take. Inherently, instinctually, she will know. How? Where does this instinct to manage the delivery and care of puppies come from?

We could shrug our shoulders, and then I’d ask you – do you know what to do when a new baby enters your life? Chewy knew when a puppy was coming, moved in her circle so that the puppy would drop just so, and then jumped in to ensure the puppy survived. Break open the amniotic sack, lick the puppy awake, chew the umbilical cord, and make that puppy dry! One Happy Puppy!

Watch the puppy. Blind. Deaf. Yet, instinctually, they know to search for momma so they can nurse! How do they get to her? Smell. How do they know her smell? I Don’t Know! Their first instinct is to satisfy their hunger! They do a good job jostling for positions and dislodging their siblings to meet their needs.

Much of my instinct comes from experiencing just enough life to know what’s hot and shouldn’t be touched! Why? I’ve been burned before. This includes managing personalities, careers, distractions, and many other categories. You “know” from a lifelong set of experiences that hones your survival instinct.

Yet. You don’t start with these experiences. You experience other things that help you resolve your next steps.

Can You Find Your Instinct?

Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote the ancient series of Tarzan…orphaned as a baby, adopted and raised by apes—King of the Jungle.

I still have the little red rubber knife I used when we swung on vines, wrestled imaginary alligators in the pool, or ran through the forest to defend the family. Along the way, he learned about his humanity by finding the hut where he was born. Under the debris, he finds life’s accouterments. Slowly, he taught himself to read. Reality? No way! But the path of instinctively moving forward is deep in our bones.

How do we have instinct? I’m Not Sure! Is it in our genetic code? Or does some knowledge pass to us when we are created, birthed, and finally take our first breath? I Don’t Know.

But I watched Chewy do things she did not learn from me, you, or some webinar!

Many scientific studies and articles cover the phenomenon. Some believe it’s the natural selection. Through our genetics’ historical move, we learn to behave and act a certain way. Innate knowledge? I’m not sure I comprehend this, but how does any animal know how to act the way we know they are? It’s not about the mechanics of their bodies, but what makes a rabbit freeze when it meets danger or the unknown?

I don’t know.

The Path Forward

Our path through life doesn’t come naturally. We live in a strange world. Technology, fast-paced, pushing forward at the speed of thought, we are not living as our forerunners ever lived before!

Learning to read is different than learning to write. Throw technology and AI (Artificial Intelligence) into the mix; well, life’s not as old as the chalk on the rock or the quill and bottle of ink. Back then? Everything took time. You went slow to make sure you got it right. Today, my software autocorrects words as I mess them up, tries to determine what I want to say, and gives me a set of words to complete the thought.

That’s Artificial Intelligence working hard to take over the mundane and the difficult. I predict the day when we ask for a message by giving a computer some parameters, and AI will write it for us! Wait! It’s already here.

I learned to type in 9th grade, circa 1969. Manual and clunky. Ratchet in a piece of paper, center the page and line, then make sure the ink ribbon works. The typewriter keys were hard to press down. We learned to count spaces and lines so everything could be properly centered. Knowing these keys were called QWERTY keys and realizing they didn’t “have to be” where they were – somebody else set their location and called it normal. I was happy to get to 48 WPM with no errors.

Then, through all the marvels of communicating with the computer, myself, and others, a lifetime of typing and keyboarding. Today, if I’m below a hundred WPM, something’s wrong. Autocorrect doesn’t help! At least, sometimes. Sometimes it’s just right! Can you give me an Amen, Dorothy (Goldilocks!)

It’s like knowing where to go and finding the best way to move from here and get there. Instinctually, I have a gyroscope microscope with an attached telescope! My mind helps me know my spatial location in the world and how to move along the road to get there. Of course, road systems change, which puts a kink in the memory banks. But if I made it somewhere once, I’ll make it there again.

Seldom am I lost. Turned around? Sure. But give me a few moments to analyze and think it through. Then I’ll get on the right path. Some cannot do this. They may drive for hours the wrong way before realizing their mistake.

Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning,
For in You do I trust;
Cause me to know the way in which I should walk,
For I lift up my soul to You.
(Psalms 143:8 NKJV)

Thank you for reading.
Please share with others.
It helps me get my book written!