Nature vs/and Nurture

Howlin Wolf.

Wow what a photo.
The learning experience. What is going on exactly?
Will these pups howl like this, no matter what, having been shown by their mum?
Well yes, we learn by being shown, they say.

But what about if a human baby was shown this from birth by the mother wolf, would it do the same?
Maybe but it wouldn’t be quite the same The human baby howl, and then the resulting adult howl, would probably not serve its purpose – communication with outer wolf world and other predators. Because it wouldn’t sound the same.

Yes we learn by being shown (nurture), but there also has to be something within us that accommodates the learning for the behaviour to work successfully (nature).
So these pup wolves have wolf programming, wolf behaviour genes presumably, which is one half of the story.
Their proclivity to be a wolf and do wolf behaviour is already there, it just needs the other half – being shown what to do.
So for humans it’s the same, but much more complex.

There are infinite modes of behaviour in humans, maybe with a few fundamental aspects or driver’s but still, the whole spectrum of human behaviour works on the same basis:
We have what we inherit and what we bring to the world, but for these tendencies to manifest into behaviour they must have the other half – the environment which may encourage them.
That’s not to say that we won’t act in ways that we don’t have programming for – we will – If the environmental factors are greater than the programmed proclivity. This actually then feeds back to the genes, to the stored behaviours, which are then transmitted to future offspring.
So this continual playoff between what we inherit and what we are conditioned by.

Nothing is static. Nothing is a blank slate.

What humans also inherit is the complex information that comes from trauma and memories. If one of the current, groundbreaking theories from the embodiment arena is correct, that trauma is stored in the body, thus determining identity and action, then it would mean this is part of the information that is transmitted to future offspring, future generations.

Then there ALSO the added complication that stored information in the body can remain dormant for generations, until it matures.

So behaviours from one generation can be almost untraceable to parents. It could be information that is ‘ripening’ from many other generations ago. Genes are not static either, they are complex and in a continual relationship with the external environment.
This also accounts for the other side of the coin – that despite a very definite environment with conscious influences, the strength and nature of the previous programming may totally over-ride it.