Hi again everyone, I understand that I am kind of taking over this section of forums today, but I want this thread to be an exception. I want this forum to more opinionated than anything else. I am not actually asking a question in this thread, I would just like some opinions. This may be a pretty long introduction, but please read the whole thing. "Do you think that instinct overwrites all other things?" Is the, not so much question, but - let us say - issue, that I would like to address. I am not going to go into why this issue is being addressed in too much detail, but I will briefly. If you have read a couple of my previous threads, you will know that I have admired just one boy in my life for a number of months now, and have received many responses, considering the circumstances, that I should not tell him how I feel. I will not mention these circumstances in this thread, because I do not want it to become the topic of interest. After all of these responses though, I still have a feeling and strong instinct that I should let him know my emotions towards him. But before I continue, I would like to confirm with you that I would appreciate no feedback or comments on this matter, and that me telling you that brief story is meant to allow you to understand why I have created this thread, and to allow you to give substancial responses, nothing more. So, what do you think? have you ever been discouraged to extremes by people, but still have an instinct to do what you wanted to do in the first place? In my opinion, your emotions and instincts as a person who is going through it all, is much more important and effective than what others' and somewhat common sense can provide. I will not hold it against you if you disagree with my opinion, but please be honest and truthful. If the majority of you believe to follow instincts and believe in yourself, then I may just tell this boy I feel for him (once again, please, this is not a desired topic of mine in this thread), if the majority of you think that I should listen and take into perspective others' opinions, then I may not tell him how I feel. Please consider though, that this issue is a very heartfelt topic, and I am becoming very concerned about it. Before I leave you to respond, I would like to return you to the main question in the quotation marks at the start of the second paragraph, and that your response does not have to be related to my story; it can be corresponding to a story of your own, or it doesn't have to relate to anything; it can simply be you opinion alone. And I will just say once more that I do not want my story to appear in the responses in this thread (unless you think that it will help the answer to the main question), as I have got other threads that will answer that concern. Finally, I have got a new quote and motto "believe in yourself, life is not easy", like it? Anyway, thanks for listening, sorry for the length, and look forward to reading your responses. Thanks in advance. X
No, because despite the state of the forum today we aren't simply animals. Instinct doesn't take into account culture, social contract or the multilayered complication of the human psyche. Instinct is id driven, and we have to function beyond the screaming demands of our id.
Oh my gosh! Thank you for actually using Freud. I definitely agree with you. I think that people are held back by subconscious cultural forces (aka superego). Even if their id wants something, their superego can't let them want it consciously.
Instinct can override the conscious mind. For example instinct will make you experience a flight or fight reaction if you are startled. It will make you react with fear and distrust to something new or unfamiliar (because long ago strange things might be something looking to kill and eat you). However, wanting something really badly isn't an instinct. And trying to rationalize or justify a want by trying to relate it to something that is supposedly more 'primal' or 'natural' such as instinct doesn't make it any less of being just a want. Todd
In my opinion, what you're calling instinct is more intuition. The thing to keep in mind is that intuition can be right or wrong, just as much as conscious opinions can be. The difference is that the processes by which intuition generates what it thinks is the right answer are hidden to your conscious mind, so you don't have a way to judge the probability of it being correct. Whereas with a conscious opinion, you can tell the difference between something like 'my grandma said her grandma told her' and 'I've read fifteen peer-reviewed journal articles about it'.
