Two men come across a tiger in a jungle. The tiger starts running towards them from. One of the men starts putting on his sports shoes. The second man asks “are you insane? putting on sports shoes won’t help you outrun the tiger!” To which the first man replies, “no, but I just need to outrun you”
There used to be a time when “survival of the fittest” was the reality of the situation, present directly in daily life as opposed to a guiding principle of evolution. But that was a more linear, lateral version where fitness implied physical fitness.
Does this principle apply in todays world? The average man lives in a city where safety is pretty good, where tigers are only found in zoo cages, where he’s capable of living a successful life without much attention to physical fitness. Survival, in its literal form, is a guarantee (except if his arteries clog up early and he has a heart attack, or if he ends in a car accident)
But I believe it applies in other planes now. Survival today has been replaced by success, and to achieve success you have to dedicate to being fit in different aspects.
For example, three men apply for a job - A, B and C. C is not as qualified and experienced as A and B. So he is rejected.
A and B are equally qualified and experienced. But A has better interpersonal skills. So on a regular day A should be able to impress the interviewer better. But A is suffering in his relationships, and has come to the interview not focussed as he’s just had another big fight with his wife. Thus B wins, because he has better peace of mind and seems the more stable, happier, team playing person.
The survival instinct is programmed into man. When we are alerted that our survival is uncertain, we immedately go into a heightened sense, and the flight or fight sequence initiates. It’s inbuilt. I believe that similarily, the survival of the fittest principle is also programmed into us. We know instinctively that unless we’re at a sufficient level of fitness in a cetain aspect, we may not achieve success.
It is the fear of being inferior. And I believe that this is what an insecurity is.
Why are we afraid of being inferior? Because we may lose something or lose success at something. Usually it’s respect of others, even ourselves. Sometimes it’s success at a relationship, or at a job. Losing at anything is not something the ego handles well, especially if it is because we are not fit enough. So like the resistance against an imperial dictator, our insecurities live within the far regions of the city where they can hide and look for weaknesses to strike against the tyrannical ruler.
What happens when the brave soldiers of the insecurities manage to hit the death star of the Darth Vader called Ego?
Ka-boom.
In the words of another great master from Star wars called Yoda:
“Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
George Lucas, creator of star wars, actually was inspired from the hindu epic, the Mahabharata, where krishna pointed the same out to Arjuna.
So at the root of it all - hate, anger and suffering - is fear. Fear of being inferior. Fear of losing something. And this is what stops us from having true peace of mind - and thus allowing our minds to be at thier fittest.
The next logical step should be to eliminate fear, right? Maybe not. Our instincts were put there for a reason. A fearless person is a person who may not be prioritising and judging the situation correctly - it’s the extreme opposite of a person who is paralyzed by fear - and still equally wrong. Dealing with the fear by summoning courage is probably the better way. However that is just one way - some eastern religions such as hinduism prescribe that giving up your attachments is one way. The concept of “moksha” or liberation, works on many levels, the most basic of which is the liberation from attachment. And giving up attachment implies also giving up any fear of losing the object of attachment.
But we’re still living in the material world. Do we have that option?
Fear of losing something is, in a balanced way, a good thing. It keeps you on your toes. It is only when the fear gets out of hand that an insecurity is born. An example is - being aware that eating a little too much can make you easily overweight can be a mild fear. And that fear of becoming overweight can keep you fit and healthy. But when that fear destroys your self-image to the point where you’re constantly asking people if you’re thin / attractive would not be a comfortable state of being, to say the least.
How do we balance fear? It sounds like the most outrageous thing. But I suppose we can, by being aware of our fear and not letting it run amok and cause havoc. At the end of the day, we could balance between fear of losing and total liberation from the attachment that causes the fear. Or we could go all the way and take life a little more lightly, and go full-on with the non-attachment. i.e. “who cares if i’m fat?”. But then prepare for the consequences of gaining weight and losing “attractiveness”(to most people). But then you won’t survive, cos you have to be fittest - in every aspect 
