The lizard brain is not merely a concept. It's real, and it has its place on the top of our spine. 'Why did the chicken cross the road?' is 'because its lizard brain told it to.' Wild animals are wild because the only brain they posses is a lizard brain. But, is the lizard brain any way inferior?
This is a Japanese story; believe it at your risk. I share it in the very shape I got it. “In order to renovate the house, a man in Japan breaks open one of the house walls. Japanese houses normally have a hollow space between the wooden walls. When tearing down the walls, he found that there was a lizard stuck there, because of a nail from outside hammered into one of its feet. He sees this, feels pity, and at the same time curious, as when he checked the nail, it was nailed 10 years ago when the house was first built. Then he wondered how this lizard survived for 10 years, without moving a single step, since its foot was nailed! So he stopped his work and observed the lizard, what it has been doing, and what and how it has been eating. Later, not knowing from where it came, there appeared another lizard, with food in its mouth. Ah! He was stunned and touched deeply - another lizard has been feeding it for the past 10 years...”
The story would have touched your hearts and there could be some who might take it as real, because in animal life such things are probable. I think, these creatures living on lizard brains lead a saintly life and sacrificing for another is a pleasure for them. Studies on plant kingdom have proved that plants enjoy being used. When it comes to humanity, which is blessed with double consciousness (may be fox brain), self sacrifice is a highly painful thing. Are we living or dying? We begin our dying experience right from the moment we start moving. Dying to finish High School and start college; then dying to get a well-feeding career; then dying to get married and have children; then dying for children to make them greater; then dying to retire. It might be then that the lizard brain gets a chance to tell you that you have forgotten to live.
Joseph Mattappally
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