THIS is a continuation from last week’s column (click here for previous column)

To appreciate and understand this fully, I believe we have to go back to the origin of man which I refer to as ancient man. Why is this so?

Well we have to understand the origin of fear in man and how it evolved in our bodies (emotions!) over the millenia.

This is what we refer to as ‘Our conditioning’ and have no doubt but this is the key to unlocking this. So ‘as the man said’ if this is the playing field then this is the playing field. The playing field in this case is that of the evolution of the human mind. Ergo ancient man.

You might well ask here – Roger, ‘how do you know fully about ancient man and his ways ? – you were not around! And my answer is simple – ‘neither were you!’  Thus, my guess is as good as yours. So we have to apply some logic and the laws of probability.

Enough of the background, let’s get down to basics. Ancient man’s first and foremost instinct was that of survival. To provide for this he required the absolute basics i.e Food and water, safety, and also also the ability to procreate. These were of uppermost in basic survival requirements.

In his quest for food he would have to explore the nearby forests for whatever pickings were available.

When the supply here ran out he had no option but to delve deeper into the forest.

Obviously the man who delved deeper into the forest got the richer pickings (leaves, fruit, nuts and meat) as they had not been foraged by anyone else. The deeper you went the higher the reward.

This reward was almost certainly accompanied by something else. Yes you’ve guessed it – Danger – These ancient wild forests were almost certainly populated by ferocious wild animals that were in turn just waiting for food to kill.

It was a case of ‘dog eat dog’ and the survival of the fittest. Back in those days I’m fairly sure that the animals had the initial advantage due to size, ferocity, hunting in packs, while man had not yet developed the skills or tools to defend himself.

Thus advantage wild animals, and ancient man was consumed with fear as his life was put at risk at any given moment while he remained in the wild forrest.

We can safely deduce from here that there is a direct correlation between the depth he entered into the forest and the amount of fear he experienced.

As man went deeper into the forest he began to feel more unsafe i.e. he was stepping out of his ‘comfort zone’, also the more he steeped out of his comfort zone the richer the pickings.

To end on a good note, gratefully all of these ferocious wild animals are no longer a daily danger and now mainly can only be found in wildlife parks and zoos, but our emotional reaction remains exactly the same as that of ancient man; When we step out of our comfort zone and do something new we experience ‘Fear’ – that fear is a normal part of our survival and should in fact be welcomed with gratitude.

Remember the rich pickings that are readily available. This is the basis of that world famous book – Who Moved My Cheese.

Thus the phrase – No Pain No Gain.

Next week I will be writing about ‘Conditioning – not just a shampoo’