The Amazing "R" Factor

Have you ever wondered who could have come up with the concept of religion, Angels, Demons and the myths around them– even if someone did, how in the world he or she did successfully manage to spread this mystical theory to the rest of the world? Did this happen in one day? One year? Probably a few centuries?
Was that some kind of a revelation , some kind of a lightening that hit human minds one dark moon night ? Was it a slow and steady dissemination of beliefs, thoughts and conspiracies? Gods, ghosts, beliefs, rituals- who created all these? Where did they come from?


Have you ever given a serious thought – why this world is so divided and every nation tries to safeguard itself from others? Every state ,every race and every community tries to preserve its identity, boasts its beliefs and practices.
Every man tries to own a piece of land or house and acts as a guardian for himself and his family. Who would have come up this idea of owning a territory in the first place ? Why someone had to draw a border around him and announce himself to be the owner of it? Had there been no national boundaries, the entire world would have been one common place for all human beings. Why did not this strike us? What was the reason Alexander the Great had to conquer every single country in the world? What could have possibly driven him to do so? Why were there two horrifying world wars? Why America had to invade Iraq?


Why does one kill another one for living? Why everyone tries to dominate others?

Imagine this-
You are surfing youtube. You come across a horrifying video that shows – how a hostage was brutally murdered by a terrorist somewhere in a desert in Afghanistan– Or a video which shows a real blast in a busy market in India– Or one that shows a devastating earth quake in Japan– or a horrifying accident captured on a traffic camera in America. The video might start with a warning saying –
"Don’t watch this if you are light hearted or weak"

Allright. First of all you don’t know if you are light hearted or not.. But you can feel something inside you that says – “lets give it a try my friend!!”. cant you?

Okay. Now you are watching it – the murder, the earthquake, the bomb blast, the accident – you are seeing people killed , wounded , blooded and horrified.
Its over now.
You feel sorry for them. Of course you do. Because you are a human being after all.
But did you just feel someone deep inside your heart – may be so deep that you had to sharpen your ears before listening– keeps urging you – “C’mon see it again.. click that replay button now… lets see it once again.. its exciting”…
Ever wondered why is this happening?


What could be the driving force for a serial killer? Why human beings are possessive on their loved ones? Some times or.. I should say most of the times, it takes people to their extremes. How many Kingdoms have crumbled down, how many people have killed others, how many peopled have killed themselves in the name of “LOVE”.



On a day off, while lying on a sofa after a nice meal, when you don’t have anything to do, have you ever thought about counting your breaths for a while?. Have you tried stop breathing for sometime to see how long you can hold up?
Did this thought come across your mind- what inside me that keeps the clock ticking? Who controls my breathing? Who makes me sleep?.
What exactly the time in seconds, I slept last night- do I remember it ? Can I try to recollect?... Or… will I be able to figure this out tonight?


Here comes the answer to all these questions. The “R complex” or a “Reptilian brain” - part of the human brain, commonly seen in the vertebrates – something we all inherited from the reptile world during the course of the evolution. George Carlin talks about this in many of his shows – but mostly to add up more fun to his jokes.
The evolution is something that most of us have studied in schools. But not until recently this topic got my attention and made me do some readings on it. There are quite a few theories revolving around this topic and few are most discussed and few are controversial.


One popular theory accepted by most scientists is MacLean’s “Triune Brain Model”
The human brain, as per the “Triune Theory” consists of three parts.
1. The Archipallium or “R Complex” or the Reptillian Brain carries the traits of the reptile world and mostly unchanged in the evolution process. Very similar to the ones seen in snakes and lizards. The way this brain looks at life is simple – “Survival comes first even if it costs a killing”. This guy never sleeps even when you sleep and controls the hearbeat and breating. Very territorial and very aggressive – this part of the brain believes in what its ancestors believed in without asking any question – rituals, religion, beliefs and superstitions.
2. The limbic system ,which is the middle part of the brain, is responsible for emotions and memories.
3. The Neocartex is the intellectual part of the brain commonly seen in the primates. The traits which are exclusive for the primates such as rational thinking, speech and language.

There is always a battle between these three brains and who wins the battles is what decides the behavior exhibited by a person. Very interesting indeed.


Now we know, how we manage to say a big “Hi..” with a beautiful smile to the boss while thinking “I will beat this devil one day!!” .