Trinity

TRINITY & OTHER DOCTRINES OF GOD:
PROF. M. M. NINAN
consciously think about digesting your food or remember constantly to keep your body
at the correct temperature. It’s a good thing that the reptilian brain takes responsibility
for these actions so we can focus our attention on other things.
The most important task of the reptilian brain in regard to our mental health is that the
reptilian brain is responsible for our unconscious anxiety mechanism (UAM). If you’re
driving on the highway and a car swerves in front of you the UAM activates and prepares
your body for action. This makes you alert and able to respond to danger immediately.
In response to threats in the environment the UAM automatically triggers anxiety. Just
try to envision if you had to stop and think if it’s actually dangerous that a car swerves
in front of you. Thankfully this «evaluation» has already been done by the reptilian brain
in a few milliseconds! Therefore you don’t have to waste valuable time when your
survival is at stake to stop and think when you need to instinctively react either with a
fight or with a flight response. It’s of great survival value that our body reacts with
immediate fight-or-flight energy when danger is suddenly upon us, because to stop and
evaluate everything that might be dangerous might be very dangerous.
However the reptilian brain triggers the UAM not only to external threats such as
oncoming traffic or dangerous animals. It has also learned that some of our feelings
might be «dangerous» to our survival. Therefore the anxiety response is triggered
whenever feelings that are forbidden or perceived as dangerous to our survival gets
activated in our body.
When the threat is external we call the anxiety response «fear», but when the threat is
internal and comes from perceived dangerous feelings we call the anxiety response
«anxiety». However, most people have low skills at discerning between the two,
therefore many mistakenly interpret their anxiety to mean that they’re afraid. But
anxiety doesn’t mean that you’re afraid, it simply means that your unconscious mind is
covering up your feelings.
Let’s use as an example a young girl that gets angry at her mother. Her reptilian brain
«knows» unconsciously that she’s dependent on the mother for survival since the
mother protects her and nurtures her. Therefore any rupture in the attachment bond will
be perceived as a threat to the girl’s survival by the reptilian brain since the mother
gives the girl shelter, food, protection, and human connection. Unless the girl receives
help from her mother to accept and regulate her feelings, the UAM will set in and give
the girl anxiety instead of anger if her anger isn’t tolerated by the mother, because
unaided her anger will trigger unconscious guilt which will trigger the UAM.
Since the main motivation of the reptilian brain is survival it understands that if the
anger towards mother were to be unleashed it could result in dramatic consequences. In
the most extreme case it would lead to the death of the mother if the raging girl actually
killed her. In that extreme scenario the girl would then be alone in the world with no one
to protect, shelter, or feed her. The attachment instinct therefore trigger guilt in the girl
as a consequence of her aggressive impulses to ensure the girl’s survival.
The reptilian brain will always trump the mammalian and the primate brain, because it
holds the UAM ace card. This because the reptilian brain believes it more important to
survive than to express feelings or to «love».
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