This lecture is presented by co-author Paul H. LeMay, based on the book “Primal Mind, Primal Games: Why We Do What We Do”. It explores the three largely unconscious default mindsets implanted in the animal dimension of our nature, mindsets that were millions of years in the making. Derivative of the fight, flight and freeze instincts, the talk also presents us how we can recognize and evolve these mindsets into a capacity that not only helps us to  better understand the basis of the troubled events in our world. It also reveals how their integration is connected to the flowering of human spirituality. Admission by freewill donation.

Introduction: There are so many life philosophies out there now that it has become quite a burden to sift through them in hopes of establishing where the most trustworthy truths are to be found. If, however as Ernest Hemingway reputedly said, “It is all true”, then each of us is not only faced with the daunting proposition of finding and living out the variation of truth that most suits us, we are faced with the discomforting prospect that each of us may place ourselves at the center of our own potentially self-indulgent Narcissistic universe. The result is a recipe for discord among peoples everywhere. Still, behind this great unfolding Darwinian competition of world views, certain self-evident truths cannot be denied. One such is our primate ancestry and the role it continues to play in shaping our behaviors and our thinking to this day, albeit in largely unconscious terms. This talk explores this question from a largely scientific perspective, and considers the wider implications for understanding our lives in a modern world.