The Worry Gene

I’ve noticed over the years that there’s always something ‘wrong’, no matter how ‘right’ things seem at first. There is a seemingly endless supply of issues to fret over. After we resolve the pressing life and death issues, you’d think we could relax and appreciate that success. Alas, no sooner one problem is solved, we find another to fret over.

This indicates we have what I’d call a ‘worry gene’, with some folk inheriting an extra helping and some with a more meager serving. Like the gene for body height: Some are taller than others, but everyone has height. Simply put, we are all going to worry till our dying day no matter what solutions we embrace to alter that fact⁽¹⁾.

This sounds futile, but there is hope. It begins with recognizing that problems and questions are the constant reality. This means accepting the fact that any innovative solutions or answers we conjure up will be short-lived. The promise of permanency is just another of Nature’s hoodwinks. Realizing this helps avoid putting all one’s eggs in the basket of promised solutions.

This frees emotion somewhat from the scattered, confused, scapegoat searching approach to life that results from expecting to find the solution ‘out there’. With that, you can focus on the one constant problem you may actually have some dominion over. Buddha’s Four Noble Truths points to it, with the last truth being the only solution that rests completely in your hands (or rather head):

The Fourth Noble Truth is the Middle Path that leads to the cessation of suffering. There is salvation for him whose self disappears before truth, whose will is bent on what he ought to do, whose sole desire is the performance of his duty. He who is wise will enter this path and make an end to suffering. Eight steps on the Middle Path are: Right Understanding, Right Mindedness, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Living, Right Effort, Right Attentiveness, Right Concentration.

Notice that at least half of these steps refer to the mind. Of those, attentiveness may be the one most directly connected to awareness, for without that, mind doesn’t exist. Attentiveness (awake, mindful, observant, watchful, etc.) optimizes all aspects of life for sentient animals. Attentiveness for humans is the foundation upon which Right Understanding, Right Mindedness, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Living, Right Effort, Right Concentration rest. Attentiveness for other animals (and us) is the foundation upon which survival rests. And so, the one constant problem you may actually have dominion over is attentiveness. As Christ said, “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.” ⁽²⁾

⁽¹⁾ One important feature of the worry gene is that it drives us to worry about something no matter what. It is the perpetual version of Murphy’s law. When we lack truly mountainous issues of survival to worry about, we make worrisome mountains out of any molehill in sight. The worry monster must be fed. This easily (and perhaps inevitably) leads to neurotic stressful worry (i.e., emotion is blind, causing the body to respond as if being chased by lions).

The beauty of focusing on the one constant problem is that, no matter how much you toil, you’ll always have room for improvement. That gives the worry gene something to sink its teeth into.

⁽²⁾ I consider the ‘pray’ Christ spoke about as being synonymous to Right Mindfulness, Right Understanding, Right Concentration. The ‘watch’, or course, is Right Attentiveness.