who we are. We are under the impression that self-knowledge should happen automatically. As we have estab
lished, the onus for balancing the Sphere of Life lies with each one of us. We must first know ourselves before
we take on the world. Taking the time to understand ourselves enables us to develop a set of personal views—
namely, who we are, how we are different from others, how we might balance our strengths and weaknesses,
and what we would like to accomplish in this life. We cannot shy away from objectively and sensibly taking
full measure of our assets, our shortcomings, our interests, and our values. However, we must also understand
that our view can only be one-sided and incomplete. To make this perspective complete and meaningful, we can
compare it to Nature’s view.
Begin your own self-evaluation with your physical appearance—stand in front of a mirror and take a
good, hard look at yourself. If you are lucky, the image you see is appealing in various ways. If you see nothing
attractive about your reflection, first consider that your expectations might be unrealistic. Nature endows each
of us with gifts. Even if you cannot approve fully of what you see in the mirror, accept what our Maker has giv
en you to work with. Learn to respect your body’s strengths and tolerate its shortcomings. Then proceed to im
prove upon those aspects of your appearance that you might improve upon without harming yourself in any way.
Don’t concern yourself with what others say about your looks. Comfort with the appearance Nature has given
you leads to freedom and self-confidence.
A person distressed about his or her appearance becomes anxious and self-conscious in public settings.
Eventually, such anxiety leads to exhaustion, bitterness, and depression that affect other areas of life. Such a
chain reaction is triggered by a vanity complex, the irrational concern with physical appearance, which can trans
form a person into a socially awkward, professionally inadequate, sexually inhibited, and spiritually deprived
individual. Naturally, such a person isolates herself or insulates himself from the world, perhaps by turning to
alcohol or other prescription or non-prescription substances to soothe insecurities. This path is not what Nature
has in mind. Acknowledging and accepting the physical body Nature has given you is an indispensable step in
the quest for success. Additionally, you must evaluate your physical health. The human body is a durable and amazing piece of
machinery, aptly designed by Nature to meet its obligations. However, you must take good care of your body if
you expect it to serve you well. Don’t overlook the nutritional aspects and physical activities that are vital to
maintaining your health. Good health only occurs if you appreciate the body with which you are blessed and
never take it for granted, regardless of what you see as its shortcomings. If you have been born with disabling
attributes, understand and accept that these attributes are no fault of your own. All of our attributes are simply a
reality of life. Clinging to bitterness or resentment over any shortcoming, real or imagined, can only make life
more difficult. Capitalize on whatever physical strengths you might have, and whenever possible and appropri
ate, take advantage of sophisticated technology that mitigates your disability. Regardless of what Nature has
given us, we are obligated to be the best we can be.
Next, explore the talents Nature has bestowed upon you. Most of us are born with a variety of talents
and skills. By tapping into them, we develop tools for our survival. However, we should also aspire to go be
yond our own survival and consider how we might utilize our talents to make this world a better place. We are
all human beings trying to get by. Some of us are born into comfort and plenty, while others are born into hard
ship. But we occupy the same planet and all depend upon its vast resources to survive. Because we are all con
nected by this need, each of us is obligated to safeguard this world and help those who are less fortunate. This
effort is hardly empty altruism, since the survival of our species depends upon our care for one another. Find
ways to affect others in a positive way, and you will find a wonderful smile on your face. That sense of satisfac
tion is the key to experiencing unadulterated peace of mind, perhaps the most valuable commodity one can pos
sess.
Determining our talents is relatively easy compared to the task of converting them into marketable assets.
Before you can begin this task, you must first understand the internal dynamics of your mind—that mysterious
entity capable of devising ingenious maneuvers to help us survive a harsh and ever-changing world. Your
mind’s job is to protect your interests and to manipulate environmental factors to its advantage. When it fails to
do so, your mind has no choice but to adapt grudgingly to the environmental requirements in order to survive.
Unfortunately, when the environment and the goals of the mind are incompatible, the mind suffers, and the individual pays a heavy toll in health, happiness, and even survival. Obviously, the mind has an extremely difficult
assignment, with little room for error.
The mind has three divisions— instinctual, intellectual, and emotional. Let’s examine the three divisions
and the interplay among them to better grasp the role of the mind in relation to Nature and human survival.
THE INSTINCTUAL DIVISION: The instinctual division is the unconscious counterpart of the intel
lectual and emotional divisions. This part of the mind plays a crucial role in our struggle for survival, as it holds
directives from Nature. Nature expresses its intent in the instinctual division via three basic directives:
1. Protect the self
2. Preserve the surrounding environment to support the self
3. Propagate the self
These fundamental directives operate in our minds as basic instincts: to secure shelter, to eat, to drink, to procre
ate. However, Nature has also made this division of the mind home to countless acquired or learned habits that
help us fulfill Nature’s directives.
For lower-order animals, whose learning capacity is limited by meager intellect and a narrow range of
emotions, instinctual behavior is much more prevalent than learned behavior. Humans are the opposite. Our
wide range of advanced emotions complement an array of primitive emotions, both of which are interpreted by
a powerful and versatile intellect. In this context, our learned behavior is not only capable of overshadowing
instinctual behavior but also of modifying it. On an individual basis, we humans are even capable of interpret
ing Nature's directives and then choosing which habits we’d like to acquire in order to carry them out.
THE INTELLECTUAL DIVISION: This division harbors the pragmatic component of the mind,
which we know as human intelligence. The components of this intelligence include reasoning, judgment, logic,
discretion, calculation, imagination, analysis, and anticipation. By virtue of these components, the intellectual
division is also known as the rational division of the human mind. It is the most complex and evolved section of
the mind. Each aspect of the intellectual division exhibits a unique, natural gift of its own which comes in handy
in fulfilling the responsibility of the intellect. The intellect is responsible for absorbing and analyzing the bar
rage of sensory information it receives from the environment and to program an appropriate response. If the input from the environment were processed only in the intellectual division of the mind, without
any interference or influence from the emotional division, the impression would be uniform and universal. Even
people of diverse ethnic and geographical backgrounds would interpret a similar environment in the same way,
as long as they were of similar intellectual caliber. But in reality, while many of us possess similar intellectual
abilities, no two human beings are alike. We have not had the same life experiences. We do not have the same
interests or make the same connections between data. We see the same set of facts from individual perspectives.
Such diversity is caused primarily by the influence of the emotional division.
THE EMOTIONAL DIVISION: The emotional division of the mind, which we might characterize as
the conscious counterpart of the intellectual mind, accommodates two sets of emotions—primitive and ad
vanced. Primitive emotions include anger, rage, pain, pleasure, comfort, thrill, fear, fright, and selfishness. Hu
mans share the capacity for primitive emotions with almost all larger (macroscopic) terrestrial organisms.
Advanced emotions include love, caring, affection, passion, compassion, concern, grief, deceit, jealousy, hatred,
greed, pride, and prejudice. We share advanced emotions with animal species of a higher intellectual order, such
as primates and cetaceans. The type and the number of advanced emotions are determined by the level of intelli
gence of the animal species. On Earth, human beings are the only animals who display all levels of emotion, but
the primitive emotions often remain the most potent. Love, affection, compassion, and concern are refined and
under stress take a backseat to more powerful, primitive emotions, such as jealousy, greed, hatred, and ven
geance. The human propensity to wage war comes from acting upon such primitive emotions.
All human beings are born with the same capacity for feeling and expressing emotions, but the influence
of different emotions on the mind varies between individuals. For example, in some people rage and anger may
have a stronger influence than compassion and tolerance. Likewise, in others, greed, jealousy, and selfishness
may mute the influence of other advanced emotions. The emotional division, then, defines an individual’s over
all disposition, attitude, and outlook. In fact, it is the emotional division that shapes each person’s character, re
sponse to the environment, and drive to initiate action. Without emotions, human beings would remain passive
reactionaries. With emotions, we are often aggressive activists. Human beings with intellect but no emotions would be closer to robots collecting data than human
beings—expressionless, mechanical zombies programmed to survive. To illustrate, suppose a person crashes a
car into a group of people, causing many injuries and deaths. Obviously the car, being a mechanical contraption,
cannot show any emotion. It is under the control of the driver and does what it is directed to do. The driver, be
ing in possession of an emotional division, might exhibit various responses to the accident, including grief, sor
row, fear, remorse, and self-loathing. In the aftermath of the accident, the driver may feel an overwhelming
sense of fear for his safety. He might be overwhelmed by the physical, legal, and financial consequences of the
accident. In this case, the emotional division of this person’s mind might, in order to ease its distress, direct the
intellectual division to flee. Fear, an emotion, sets the tone, but the actual flight response is concocted in and
implemented by the intellectual division. In an alternative scenario, the driver’s feelings of grief and compas
sion might lead the intellectual division to choose a different action—helping the victims and calling for an am
bulance.
Our emotional division is like an orchestra, where different musicians represent different emotions. As
we know, each musician and instrument in an orchestra is important. However if the musicians were not orga
nized by virtue of their instruments’ pitch and tone, and if they were not in sync with the maestro and one anoth
er, the result would be pure cacophony instead of a melodious composition. Universal Sense, like an efficient
maestro, knows how to organize each and every emotion, making sure that each emotion exerts the appropriate
amount of influence on the policy-making process that is beneficial to the individual. Thus, Universal Sense
maintains a balance within the emotional division and maintains harmony between the three divisions of the
mind.
Understanding the internal dynamics of our minds enables us to recognize that talent alone is not enough
to guarantee success in this world in our chosen field. Sometimes, Nature gives us intellectual talents and emo
tional interests that do not match. Unfortunately, it is only when the intellect and the emotions are playing in
harmony that we can both recognize our talents and use them as tools of survival. With the backing of our emo
tions, the intellect can sharpen our innate talents and utilize them to our advantage. When an individual’s innate
talent coincides with his interest, he will easily sharpen that talent into a marketable tool. On the other hand, when a person’s interests do not align with her talents, she will experience an internal conflict between her emo
tions and her instincts.
Consider, for example, a person who dreams of being an accomplished musician, but is born with little
or no musical talent. Instead, she has the talent to become a good engineer. This person has three options: Op
tion A: She accepts the disparity between her talent and her passion, and pursues an engineering profession.
However, she may never rejoice in her achievements as an engineer, because her heart is not in it. Option B:
She ignores her lack of natural talent and pursues her passion for music. But she must be prepared for disap
pointment if she is unable to reach her professional goals. This option may make her slightly unhappy, but she
may also be at peace with herself and her choice. Option C: She disregards the disparity and agonizes over the
cards that she has been dealt—feeling trapped and never finding her purpose in life.
The most prudent way to handle this dilemma—the way dictated by Universal Sense—is for her to uti
lize her talents and build an engineering career. Simultaneously, she can pursue her musical passion as a hobby
and accept whatever level of musical proficiency she attains. In this scenario, she accepts and utilizes the
strengths Nature has provided rather than becoming crippled by her shortcomings. Living with constant internal
conflict saps our physical, mental, and spiritual energy. It is imperative that we connect with Nature in order to
resolve any internal conflict between our strengths and weaknesses, our passions and priorities before we at
tempt to find our place in the World.
Remember, we are what we make of ourselves. You can choose to be either your own best friend or
your own worst enemy. All your strength must come from within, because no external source can provide it.
Nature has given you the strength you need. Now you must learn to believe in yourself. Take an in-depth inven
tory of your strengths and weaknesses. Take the time to understand who you are, what you stand for, and what
you intend to do with your life. Now that you have assessed your body, mind, and spirit through Nature’s eye, and armed yourself with Nature’s mandates, you are qualified to make your way in the World.