Iran’s Critter Brain is Eating its Young
The critter or limbic system is the earliest developed part of our brain. Its main question is, “Am I alive?” Think of a small salamander. Its job and life is to stay alive. It does not care whether or not, it loses its tail or arm. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is the head critter in the body called Iran, whose main question in life is “Am I alive?” No other question is important. Iran will have no issues of being in pain or eating its young. The only question is, am I alive. It does not care if it inflicts pain upon someone else. It does not care about the quality of life. It only cares that it is alive, and the Ayatollah will do whatever it takes to stay that way.
The cerebellum is the animal/herd part of our brain. Its main question is how I belong or how do I stay safe? It is them vs. us. An example is when you see a Highway Patrol speed trap; your first thought is to become like everyone else, not to be seen, to be safe, not to be different, and hopefully the Highway Patrol will attack someone else for speeding. In Iran, the people who voted for President Ahmadinejad are in this category. They may not like what is going on, but they want to be safe, to belong to what they know. The last part of the brain is the cerebral cortex or the human brain. Its main question is, what do I want, how can I be more? Many of the people and students born since the Iranian revolution fall in this category. They have no reference of what it was like when the Shah ruled. The slogan “Death to America”, holds the same importance as other slogans like “Coke, the real thing”.
These people are looking for change, for betterment, to be more, to have more. They still love their country, but they look around the world and want the possibilities that the world can provide.
In a fight between the critter brain and the human brain the critter brain often wins because its need for survival is so much more basic. In Iran, I would expect to see much more repression, and violence. Now and after this current phase of protests.
The two choices in Iran are wait until the death of the head critter so change can happen, or have enough humans ignore the head critter through benign neglect. Then no energy is given to the head critter by actions or deeds, which would force it to change in order to survive until tomorrow.
The problem for the United States is that it must walk the middle ground, to give a sense of hope and support for the human side of Iran, but not be so frightening as to stampede the herd and put the critter brain into fight mode for its very life.
About the Author
Dr. H. Christian Gunderson’s in-depth understanding of health and wellness comes from his 22 year practice in chiropractic medicine. He is also Master Practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), a type of counseling that not only identifies issues, but also provides real solutions and lasting positive change. Any questions or comments e-mail me at drgunderson@hotmail.com
