According to ancient wisdom, we constantly perceive threats to our likes and dislikes. It is the purpose of this section to show how modern science deals with this perception.
We start with an overview of the neurophysiological structure of a human being. This physiology controls human behaviour.
All sentient beings have a sensory faculty howsoever primitive or advanced it may be. The purpose of this faculty is twofold: (1) to sense what is happening in the being itself or its external environment, and (2) to respond to it appropriately to safegaurd and sustain the life of the being. The physical correlate of this faculty in humans and all vertebrates is the nervous system.
In primitive micro organisms, immediate survival is the only consideration and nature has built in reflex responses to sense stimuli. No further control mechanism is necessary.
The control needs of life forms more complex than micro organisms get a little more complex. These life forms have memory which stores experience. Emotions such as love and compassion have not yet been introduced. Their life is run primarily from survival related experience in addition to primitive emotions of natural attraction to their dependent offspring. They are equipped with a mental faculty of memory of physical experiences. In humans, such a faculty is called the ego and its physiological correlate is the brain stem centered limbic system of neurological structures. The primary purpose of this system is to run the life sustaining physiological functions of the organism and generate quick and reactive response to the external or internal (memory) stimuli that the organism perceives.
The control needs of life forms, such as mammals, is even more advanced. Human being is a mammal, the most complex mammal. Humans have a need of meaning, purpose, thought, consideration, will, love and compassion. Other mammals have these needs also but to a lesser extent. Mammals have a neocortex for these needs. Humans being more complex and advanced beings, have the most advanced neocortex. Survival is important for mammals as well, although they have needs that enable them to transcend immediate survival needs for their optimal good or for the good of others. Mothers are best known to transcend their personal needs for their offspring. The problem is that physically the neocortex is located in the second position as far as sensory input is concerned. At times, it does not even know that things have happened and the limbic system has already responded to them. One can call it limbic hijacking of the slow acting neocortex. The limbic system yields to the neocortex only when it perceives the stimulus received as of no urgency.
Because of the importance of its role in survival, the limbic system of the brain is disposed to perceiving most stimuli received as urgent. Thus the neocortex just sits there without much activity. The irony is that humans with the most developed neocortex are disposed not to use it and behave as sub-human beings.
Is there a cure for this malady? The answer is an emphatic yes. The limbic system is disposed to constantly keep us experiencing fight or flight response of varying intensity (through the actiivity of sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system). Why not proactively elicit the relaxation response on a regular basis (through the actiivity of parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system) to counter the harmful effects the reactive fight or flight response?