Namaste harih ji, Aanandinii ji,

@harih ji - No sir, I have not read that popular book. I have to read it. If there is insight from the moral of that book to be viewed in perspective of our current theme, I would be most interested to know about it.

Aanandinii ji,

So, yes, if you're asking what drives the animal we call human, or any other form of material life, the answer most definitely is avoiding discomfort and chasing pleasure. So, what makes us different than this, because there is clearly a difference and it's been defined above already. Acting outside of your own self interest as an animal. Confronting and acting against instinct. The difference is intellect, the ability to reason and discriminate. Consciousness outside of the animal. Please don't mistake me for saying it is unique to humans, though I would say different forms of life do seem to be more intellectually able than others, and even some currently looking through a human form are better at it than others.


I read your reply fully and it seems to me as you said, that:

1. Positive reinforcements (aka conditioning) operate at the instinctual level to motivate human behavior.

2. We cater to our own and others' needs depending on our affiliations (also known as society) and our altruism.

I do not know how to phrase the above deductions into 1 coherent sentence, perhaps it cannot be phrased, as I eagerly seek out to, in such a sentence either!

If there are corrections or further insights into variables/parameters defining human behavior, kindly share...

Thanks.