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Brain Stem...The emotions that arise in the brain stem are crude survival triggers: lust, fear and anger are among them. These are emotions that move us to regard others as objects for our survival. They motivate the unrestrained use of power. They are the impetus of the destroyer. The adult personality combats the destroyer, dispassionately and remorselessly, with every means at her or his disposal. There is danger in this prescription. Once we enter mortal combat, either side can claim moral right to those not privy to the full history. For this reason, and more powerful ones to follow, the best way to fight the destroyer is by providing his or her victims the power to resist destruction. While this places us directly in the gun sights of the destroyer, this should not be taken as an irrecoverable disaster. Concrete benefits accrue to those that perish for love. When I reflect on the brain stem, a film clip from the Discovery Channel comes frequently to mind. It is only ten seconds or so in length. A large lizard looms behind a newt. The newt, eyes fixed forwards, appears oblivious to the presence behind it. Neither moves, but tension builds. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, the newt leaps into the water, and safety. There are many explanations for this scene. Why did the newt not move earlier? Perhaps the wind shifted, although there was no indication in the surrounding foliage that any breeze was in the air. Perhaps the odor of the lizard simply permeated the air, until reaching a level that the newt could sense. Having been stalked by more than one predator in my life, however, I sense something else. The hunt is a mental negotiation between hunter and prey. The hunter wishes to allocate the material resources of the prey to its purposes. The prey chooses to submit to the will of the hunter, or to escape. If the prey is resistant, the hunter attempts to wear it down, giving it space and then moving in again. The two maneuver physically until an outcome is inescapable. If the prey is not strong enough, the hunter, in effect, uses its will to overwhelm the prey. In youth, predators tend to fail most frequently because they cannot back their will with competent physical coordination. Therefore, the young think of competition as a physical phenomenon. It is only when they have achieved a certain physical mastery that they become aware of the need to "get inside the head" of their opponent. For this reason, I always loved watching matches between Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi when they were at their peak. Early on, the mental competition would last a set or so, when the loss of a dramatic and pivotal point would sap the resolve of one or the other. In their later years, the mental contest would roll on into the third or fourth set; Pete slamming aces, Andre slamming winners, neither giving any ground in the face of the other's strength. In those years, Andre's superior physical endurance began to tell. On more than one occasion, Pete's body simply failed. Compare this to Pete's US Open final with Michael Chang. Pete sat in the locker room an extra few minutes while Michael fidgeted at the entrance to the arena. By the time Pete deigned to come to the court, the look on Michael's face told me that the match was already in Pete's hands. |
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