3 - cave

“Never let fear determine who you are. Never let where you come from determine where you are going.”

- Cus D’Amato

The world was a scary place. Out in the open people were exposed and in peril. To counter this, they banded together and hid in caves.

The cave was safety, safety was life. To stay in the cave, everyone needed to get along. To get along meant similarity: acting and thinking in a similar way.

Routine became safety, safety became routine. A loop was formed: change the routine, danger arises. This bred in the people an innate desire to be consistent – stick to routines and follow cycles.

Display looped behaviours.

This was a simple and useful rule to begin with. Act the same, stay safe, stay alive. If anyone thought or acted differently, they fell out of the loop. Falling out of the loop threatened the safety of the group. Therefore any deviation resulted in being cast out of the cave into the unknown.

Alone.

The fear of the unknown strengthened the loop, and a mentality was carved into the minds of those that huddled together:

Everything is fine in the cave.

And that was true. For a time.

Time combined with safety meant that while numbers grew, space declined. The walls of safety began pressing into those in the cave. Comfort became cramped and safety became stressful. As discomfort grew, the limitations of the cave became apparent, and a new thought began to form:

Not everything is fine in the cave.

This new thought threatened what had been established. It questioned the cave. The place that provided safety was now being scrutinized. The cave was not enough. They needed something different. They needed to change.

This was a dangerous way of thinking, as it was diametrically opposed to the founding thought. The new idea grew alongside the discomfort. Those that dared voice this were cast out.

The rest continued:

Everything is fine in the cave.

Deep down, they knew that this wasn’t true. However, the need to be consistent had become intertwined with their identity, part of the culture that defined the group. The new thought continued to grow. This cognitive dissonance, combined with the opressive walls and discomfort ate away at them. It became unbearable, but not as unbearable as change. So a coping mechanism was formed.

They began to bullshit themselves.

Inconveniences became appealing. Discomfort became dependable.

This mentality that was born in those caves remains with us today: The desire to be consistent; to stick to routines, to stay in a loop.

Physically we live in the 21st century, but mentally we never left our caves.

We have a psychological need to be consistent. Where discomfort goes against our routine, we employ bullshit to keep us from confronting it. This results in a battle between two thoughts:

• Everything is fine in the cave.

• Not everything is fine in the cave.

This mix of fear and denial is maintained in a loop of behaviours which lock us into our current situation, all the time being gnawed at by our personal question.

You know yours.

But a point needs to be made here. We owe a lot to those from our past. It’s because of the cave mentality that we didn’t end up lower down on the food chain. At the same time however, the reason you are able to live your current lifestyle is because of those who confronted their own bullshit. They are the reason that we evolved as a species.

This series is about those people. About your descendants.

This is about you.

It’s about the conflict which you have within yourself: the cave vs the outside, two modes of thinking which battle everyday in your mind.

It’s about how we, as humans were shaped by routine. But it’s here where we need to highlight the rules. We cannot be free from loops, because they are too deeply engrained in what it is to be human. They are part of how we function as a species.

It’s like trying not to breathe.

Knowing your limitations is liberating. Awareness brings ideas, ideas bring creativity, creativity brings the new. You can be aware of the triggers, signs, and limitations of looped behaviours. You can know the rules, and you can bend them. You can use the loops to your benefit. Instead of them programming you, you can program them.

This is done on a particular battlefield. The one that defines who you are. Your habitual behaviours.

The habits you have, determine the person you are. The person you are, determines the life you live. That question you keep asking yourself, you won’t find the answer with your current habits. Reading this far indicates that you are tired of staying where you are, that you have outgrown your cave, and that you have felt the need to step outside. You have that duality of thought which your ancestors had. That split, once it happens, doesn’t go away. You can push it to the back of your mind, but it’s only a matter of time until that trickle becomes a stream, and that stream becomes a river. It’s a common problem that causes much unhappiness, never answering that question. But by understanding loop theory you can answer it.

It’s up to you by how much.

But there is another option.

You can always stay in your cave...

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