Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out.
human instinct instincts life
Man has no automatic code of survival. His particular distinction from all other living species is the necessity to act in the face of alternatives by means of volitional choice. He has no automatic knowledge of what is good for him or evil, what values his life depends on, what course of action it requires. Are you prattling about an instinct of self-preservation? An instinct of self-preservation is precisely what man does not possess. An 'instinct' in as unerring and automatic form of knowledge. A desire is not an instinct. A desire to live does not give you the knowledge required for living. And even man's desire to live is not automatic: your secret evil today is that that is the desire you do not hold. Your fear of death is not a love of life and will not give you the knowledge needed to keep it. Man must obtain his knowledge and choose his actions by a process of thinking, which nature will not force him to perform. Man has the power to act as his own destroyer--and that is the way he has acted through most of history.
choice human-nature instincts life man thought
[On Schopenhauer in Black and White] Schopenhauer's views of love are flawed. Love can't be merely an illusion of the mind to aid in procreation, but the path to redemption for an otherwise violently selfish species. Past human greatness has proven that when challenged, love can overpower impulsive instinct, and in essence, the vilest aspects of our nature.
challenge essence flaw human human-condition human-nature humanity illusion instinct instincts lover mind nature overpower power procreation redemption schopenhauer schopenhauer-as-educator selfish species tso-love violence violent
I would advise a stupid woman always to follow her hsuband - however, a smart woman should rely on her own instincts.
instincts women
In the name of being social, we learn to ignore our natural instinct. Society keeps dictating do's and don'ts which we keep obeying day in and day out.
instincts society writers writing
See, I was never a guy who had a whole heap of friends to belong to. Besides Greg Fienni, I never really had friends. I kind of stayed on my own. I hated it, but I was proud of it too. Cameron Wolfe needed no one. He didn't need to be amongst a pack. Not all of us roam like that. No, all he needed was his instincts. All he needed was himself.
friends hated instincts on-my-own proud roam
Satisfying a savage instinct is incomparably more pleasurable than satisfying a civilized one.
human instincts
Every characteristic absence of spirituality, every piece of common vulgarity, is due to an inability to resist a stimulus - you have to react, you follow every impulse.
impulse instincts spirituality
It does no good to run. And it does no good to hide. But I know what it's like. Your brain shuts down, and you follow your instincts. Or, at least, you you do. But you know what you're really doing? When you flee through the night, or crawl into your little bolt-hole? You know what's really guiding you? Controlling you? Pushing you on?.
bolt-hole crawling genre-conventions hiding instincts running the-night