Fear and Desire is what drives us

A few days ago, I got asked by someone about what I think drives or dominates human behavior the most. We were a few friends sitting together and even though the question as pointed at me, it pretty soon turned into a general discussion. Some people were of the opinion that love is what drives us through our lives, some people vouched for anger and hatred, some for money and power. I sat there thinking for a while listening to different opinions while forming one of my own. When the question was thrown back at me once again, I answered in two words, fear and desire. Others of course did not agree immediately but eventually did that I was right. Each action that we take, whatever it is, in one way or another is because of either one of these emotions, either fear or desire. We eat because we are afraid that if we didn’t we would die or we eat because we see an irresistibly delicious dish in front of us that we desire to taste. We go through our academic lives because either we are afraid that if we didn’t study well, our future would be ruined. At the same time, there is also a desire to be called successful in life and earn tons of money. We get married because of our desires of mating with the opposite sex, our desires of being loved and cared and start a family. We run to work every morning because we are afraid that if we didn’t, we would get fired and eventually run out of money. These are a few examples that I shared but if you think about it closely, you would be able to relate each of your action to either of these two emotions. And it is just not with humans, we can easily relate this theory to the actions of animals as well. In my opinion, these two are the strongest of emotions, not just human but universal. This is what actually drives the world.