The Base Level Human

The quest for safety and security through power and control

Ed owns a bar on the campus of a state university. This university and bar are ranked as one of the top party schools in the country. He is young, good-looking, and charismatic. He employs all college students. The girls are attracted to him, and the guys are inspired by him. He seems to have it all.

He also appears to be a great guy. He takes the guys under his wing and treats the girls as if they are the most beautiful women he has ever met. Most people love being around him. He seems comfortable with himself. Solid, authentic. Self-assured. Confident. That is until you get to know him a little better.

That’s when you start to notice there is something odd about Ed. Despite the initial magnetism people feel towards him, he does not have a lot of close friends. People who once worked with him will warn you about his controlling, dominating and manipulative nature. That’s confusing for people who have just met him. “how could that be,” They think? “He seems like the best guy!”

As you get to know him better you will start seeing some of the signs that fuel the gossip. He begins hitting on all the girls. He sleeps with many of them, and for those who don’t respond, he ends up firing or ostracizing them.

He takes excellent care of the dudes, too, for a time. If he feels one of them is outshining him, he will work to undermine that person’s confidence. If he feels one of the guys did not show him the proper respect, he will make them look foolish or incompetent in front of everyone else. Sometimes he will turn on people just because he is in a mood or to illustrate his power. He can easily go from being a selfless mentor to turning on them, demoting them, or firing them altogether.

He frequently gets drunk, is fond of drugs and has volatile mood swings. One minute, you are at his house, and he is telling you how much he respects and admires you, and then a few weeks later, he is undermining your confidence with subtle digs and manipulative behind-your-back gossip.

He is nice and then he is cruel. He is generous and then he is greedy. He is fair as long as it works in his favor. He tells you how great you are and then talks shit behind your back.

If you are unlucky enough to really get close with him, you are bound to be chewed up and spit out. If you want to stay in his good graces, you should believe what he believes, say what he says, do what he does and make sure to never outshine him. Do all that and you can become one of his minions.

If you have any shred of dignity, self-respect and sense of what is and is not decent behavior, eventually you will come to see him as a power-hungry asshole who manipulates people for his own gain and then discards them. Many people who knew him, later ask themselves “why was I so taken by him and why is it so hurtful to be rejected by him?”

Ed is a Base Level Human. His primary motivation is power. He wants to win. He sees life as a game of survival of the fittest. He will take advantage of the weak and be threatened by the strong. The insecure are his prey, the confident are his competition.

You might say, “jade, I know people just like this guy. I have always wondered why these people are this way?” It’s because their entire goal in life, whether they are conscious of it or not, is to keep their world stable and predictable. They crave safety and security above all else. And that explains the need for power. Powerful people are always in control and never in danger, at least that’s what people who chase power think.

As strong as their façade is, all those dysfunctional behaviors are actually triggered by one emotional need, certainty, and one emotional driver, fear.

Base Level Humans are motivated by fear one way or another. It could be fear of being hurt, fear of the unknown, fear of unseen dangers, fear of being controlled or pretty much fear of anything else. It’s like the child constantly worried the boogeyman is hiding under the bed or there is a monster in their closet. Only in this case, base level adults see danger in unfamiliar ideas, unconventional belief, and anything different than what they are used to. They have an oversized fear of loss and of things being taken away. And perhaps one of the biggest fears— people who are different than they are. They suffer from a preoccupation of being taken advantage of someone breaking into their home, financial loss, government control, big business deception and other concerns.

These are the humans that avoid different ideas, different people and different places. Change disrupts their sense of security and is not something their minds are comfortable with. They want things done the way they always have been, they want laws that protect them & rules that establish clear hierarchies. They seek to allay their fear and win the battle against their imagined foes, and they are less concerned with whether they hurt someone else or not.

This is the lizard brain self.  The part of us that feels like everyone is out to get us. The side of our personality that feels like it is us against the world.  When we are operating from Base Level we lie, we bullshit, we avoid, we attack, and we manipulate. We behave as if someone is trying to take something from us. We feel an overwhelming need to protect ourselves and fight back. When we are in Base Level, it is all about us, everyone else be damned. The Base Level operates by the mottos “take what you can get,” “every man for themselves,” “winner take all,” and “an eye for an eye.”

Imagine being in an uncertain world, feeling alone and on edge and not knowing who to turn to. Perhaps your experience of people since your earliest days as a child is one of distrust. Maybe your caretakers were physically or emotionally absent. There could be some form or abuse; mental, emotional, physical or sexual.

If you knew Ed’s history, you would see that he never knew his dad and that his mother was absent. He was passed around from Aunts to Uncles to Grandparents and even family friends as a child. He had no siblings and was a weak child who felt unwanted and unsure. Somewhere along the way, his Base Level brain got strongly triggered and he has remained mired in that mental state ever since.

If all these things were true of you, it’s possible your automatic nervous system may permanently switch on your mental protection protocols as well. In that case you would likely be looking for all the ways to protect yourself too. And you may become fanatical in your quest for some level of safety. Returning to a place of security and predictability would be one of the best strategies to allay the fear response of being alone and uncertain.

This would make you more rule oriented, mentally rigid, hypervigilant, greedy, on-edge and distrusting. It also could lead to malevolent, manipulative and addictive tendencies.

You may come to see the world as a zero-sum game of survival where you must take what you can, fight for survival and be ready to go to war at a moment’s notice.

Base Level Humans relate to the world from basement level needs of security, safety and predictability. This is the part of your neurology that is primarily concerned with survival.  To the base level human everything comes back to certainty. When they are confronted with uncertain circumstances the fear response is triggered. This means they often default to lashing out, verbal insults, or adopting confrontational postures.

Far and away the most common drive of the Base Level Human is power.  Power over surroundings and power over people. If a Base Level Human can attain power, they can avoid uncertainty and fear— at least that’s what they believe deep in their unconscious.

The vertical hierarchy of power

Base Level Humans see the world as a vertical hierarchy. If all humanity was a latter, the base level types see some people higher up on the latter and others lower down. To them this represents a power struggle and is a source of unconscious motivation to achieve a higher level. It can also be a great source of angst.

In order to achieve the stability they seek; they know they must achieve the highest point on the latter of humanity as possible.  The higher they climb the more power they have. The more power they build the more stability they enjoy.

One of the things that sets Base Level behavior apart is the way they attempt to climb this latter. It has been said, when you see life as a struggle you will find battles everywhere you go.  The base level type feels as if everyone and everybody is out to get them.  So on their climb of the latter, they are not simply trying to climb higher, they also have an overwhelming desire to reach up and tear others down from their higher perch. Simultaneously they will create blockades to those below them and often will set booby traps for those at their level as well.  They are less concerned with those below them unless they perceive that person will soon be passing them.

In this way they are both envious and pessimistic in their personality style.  Envious in that they are actively working against everyone on the latter, trying to get as high as they can while holding others back. They are pessimistic both because they see the world in a negative view (everyone is out to get me and people are inherently bad”), but also because their primary strategy is attacking others to get ahead.

The Other Base Level Responses (Fight, Flee, Freeze)

There are other strategies these types can employ as well. Fighting is one, but fleeing and freezing are just as common.

Running away; the flee response is not meant literally. In the modern-day social environment running away takes the form of ghosting, ignoring or writing someone off. When Ed could not win with force or manipulation, he would win by withholding pay or simply firing an employee.

And there is also the freeze response. One of Eds bouncers was a confident, physically capable and confident kid. When Ed tried to subjugate him with verbal beratement this kid looked sternly in Ed’s face and said, “you don’t get to talk to me like that bro. If you disrespect me like that again you are not going to like what comes next.”

Ed’s reaction to this stand against him physically was fascinating.  He stood for a split second looking like a dear caught in headlights. He then deftly laughed it off and insisted, “I was just fucking with you man.” This is what a freeze reaction can look like in the world of social sparring.

That little anecdote also represents a truth about Base Level Humans many want to ignore. Sometimes all a power-hungry person responds to is force of power.

If you have ever been in a difficult conversation with someone and watched as they silently disengaged, cross their arms, or otherwise became unresponsive, you witnessed a Base Level Human “freeze” response.

The major thing to remember about Base Level Humans, and keep in mind regarding your own Base Level tendency, is threat. Anything that is different is a threat. Anytime they are not in control it is a threat. These types want things to remain the way they always have been. They want tight, predictable outcomes that they control.

People who are different are seen as threatening. The Base Level brain is responsible for bigoted, racist and sexist behaviors. It is also responsible for bullying, manipulating, cheating, lying and even violence, if that is what is required to maintain power or take what they need.

These types gravitate towards anything that seems to offer unwavering certainty. This is why the rigid religious doctrines appeal to them, why conservatism resonates and explains why they put their faith in rules, laws and ideologies that provide advantages to them and disadvantageous to others. One thing to keep in mind here. When I use the word “conservatism,” I am not talking about a political party. I am referring to the need for rules, hierarchies and enemies. The extremes on both ends of the political spectrum are base level. The white supremacists and neo-Nazi’s of the extreme right and the anarchists of the extreme left are examples.

A Base Level Human feels they alone are the smartest, strongest, most righteous, best looking and most deserving. They score higher in what is known as the dark triad of psychological attributes. These include narcissism (characterized by extremes in ego), Machiavellianism (characterized by exploitation of others) and psychopathy (impulsive, selfish, antisocial and immoral behavior).

Right and wrong, good and bad, black and white. Base Level Humans see the world in simple dichotomies and look to exploit others to elevate themselves. They feel compelled to engage in any pursuits and interests that make them feel less fearful, more stable and more likely to win.

The need to win may be one of the more important aspects of Base Level Humans. It is an ancient survival mechanism. These types seek prevailing above all else. They will seek power grabs whenever the chance arises. Power brings with it certainty & safety and the ability to dominate rather than be dominated. They will also tear things down that they feel they don’t control. An anarchist bent on destruction of what they fear controls them is a typical example.

By now you are probably seeing Base Level Human traits as completely undesirable, but we need to be careful. These psychological constructs had, and sometimes have, an important role to play in normal healthy psychology.  There are indeed times where survival is crucial. Setting boundaries, being self-centered, fighting back and recognizing manipulation and trickery is important. This can be protective. And it is sometimes warranted, ironically and especially when confronted with Base Level individuals.

Base Level Humans & Children

It may shock you to realize that some of these Base Level behaviors are a necessary and important aspect of human development. Many of the underpinnings of the Base Level personality are actually prevalent in most all young children.

Base Level psychology is a necessary stage for all humans. After hearing all the negative attributes of Base Level psychology you are bound to have a visceral rejection to this idea but consider for a moment what being a child entails.

As a kid you are helpless. Care givers are required, there is no survival without them. Your parents must do everything for you. In fact, you are the center of their universe. They feed you, change you, clean you. In your little baby brain, no one exists but you. Little kids are not yet consciously aware of other people’s needs. It is all about them and their physical and emotional needs. As far as they are concerned nothing else matters but them and their needs. Now imagine getting stuck in that mindset forever even after you grow up. Now you have an idea of the Base Level Human behavior.

When parents love, provide support, give stability, foster predictability and show up reliably in the lives of their children, the most dysfunctional Base Level behaviors may be allayed. In those cases, safety can be internalized while uncertainty and fear are minimized.

But what if caretakers are not there in all those ways? What happens if other traumatic events are encountered, real or perceived, and encoded into their brains? This can result in seeing the world as unsafe.

Consider a child who is overly spoiled, never gets the message to share or sees the adult influences in its life act out selfish and destructive power dynamics? Can you see how a very natural and normal Base Level state, that would normally be a temporary state of childhood, might become more permanently entrenched? Perhaps even dominating a human’s perception throughout their entire lives?

While all children must necessarily go through a base level period of self-absorption, most of them will evolve out of that state and integrate more socially acceptable ways of being. Especially if they are given stable, safe environments in which to grow up. But what if they don’t?

Children by their very nature are self-absorbed. They don’t have the psychological sophistication to understand the needs of their parents, how financial stress may be impacting their mom or how the demands of career, the in-laws and managing the home is influencing their dad. That’s assuming they even have a mother and a father and that there is not turmoil in the house.

To a child it is simply about getting their needs met.  If they don’t get their desires satisfied, if they are not the center of attention, what happens? Babies may yell, scream & cry. If they are toddlers they may stomp their feet, pout, and whine. If they are older kids, they may get angry, lie, cheat, or manipulate. Hiding, avoiding, and withdrawing are also prevalent strategies. All of these reactions are ways of managing fear and uncertainty.

Base Level adults exhibit a lot of these childlike behaviors. They are just less obvious and more culturally acceptable adult versions. If you disagree with an adult stuck in their child mentality, they may become withdrawn and avoidant. If you don’t go along with what they want, stubborn resistance may manifest until you do. And yes, they even can throw adult temper tantrums by yelling, hurling insults, shouting profanities, and sometimes even becoming violent.

Take out a blender and throw in a junior high school bully, a scared toddler and the obnoxious demands of a 6-year-old. Blend that with the unconscious neediness of an infant with explosive digestive upset. Now sprinkle all of that with the advanced manipulation tactics that adult intellect & social savvy provide. Finally put in a strong dash of a dictator’s hunger for power and pour it into an adult body. Now you have an idea what pure, base-level humans are like.

They are grandiose narcissists with the neurotic paranoia that the world is out to get them. So how do they respond? They must attack, runaway or hide.

It can be protective

It’s important not to label the Base Level personality as all bad. It’s not often, but this side of our psychology can be very useful. It is the part of us that protects us from being taken advantage of.

I like to think of psychological states as having a mirror quality. In order to sense and respond to how others are being, we must have felt these same emotional drives ourselves. If we never felt fear or uncertainty in our own internal state, we would not be able to recognize it in others

If someone is being manipulative, our Base Level psychology can spot it because it knows how to do that. If someone disrespects us, threatens our safety, or undermines our security we are able to spot it from the base level side of our being.

That becomes a positive thing when erecting our own boundaries and standards of what we will and will not tolerate.  There is a time and a place to draw swords and go to battle.  Kindness without boundaries is foolishness.  Base Level attributes serve this very important function.  When our base level is healthily active it is rarely used.  It only activates when it is absolutely necessary.

The problematic Base Level state occurs when we overreact to everything.  When we are in attack mode all the time and with most everyone. Part of becoming a Next Level Human is realizing that the base level side of us must be integrated healthily into our drive towards positively effecting the world in the way only we can. There are always times when a protective or combative posture is required, to believe otherwise is naive and childish. But to remain in fear, to hurt others for your own selfish needs is the opposite of a healthy integrated human.

To be the antidote to asshole, you need to be able to recognize the asshole in yourself first. To be the antidote to anxiety and fear you must understand that discomfort in yourself. To truly grow yourself and evolve the world you must bring all your psychological tools to bear, including, the Base Level Self.

Base Level Politics

­­The Base Level Human represents the extremes on the political spectrum. The Base Level mentality seeks stability, safety, certainty and security. These states protect against the fear response that they have a constant urge to suppress.

This makes these types idealogues.  Once they decide on a thing, they set their intellect to justifying what they currently believe, and they often develop extreme views.

The left-wing radical anarchists and the right-wing white supremacists are examples of Base Level Human dynamics at play. These types can be incredibly destructive to societies given their, “my way or they highway attitude.” It seems the Base Level mentality dominates in the politics of win at all costs.

Where some people value compromise and collaboration, the Base Level Human wants to dominate and win.  They are extremely dogmatic, unable to see other points of view. They cannot admit to being wrong and if they do their certainty needs implode. For this reason they will stick with their view no matter what. They have no qualms about lying, cheating, manipulating, using people, or otherwise taking advantage of anyone who they see weak and ineffective.

Vertical hierarchies and extreme individualism

when it comes to the way Base Level Humans orient towards society, they see things as what we could call a vertical hierarchy. A vertical hierarchy is best described by a latter with each wrung on the latter occupying a particular position of power. The power structure goes from top to bottom. They very top of the latter is the position of most power and the bottom of the latter occupies a zone of least power.

This is very much like an old monarchy. The king is god and everyone else is beneath him and subject to his whims. He may choose to place people just below him in the hierarchy, but they can never be in equal position or above him. The king is all powerful and the center of everything.

Base Level orientations also prioritize the individual and most especially the most important individual; themselves. They are the center of the universe and judge everything through the lens of their needs, their convenience, and their freedoms. This is where the base level psychological trait of narcissism shows itself.

The entire game of a Base Level Human is to achieve as much power as they possibly can, and this means ascending the latter to the highest possible position. Simply rising up the latter is not enough. Where possible, and when it does not jeopardize their own safety, they will manipulate, scheme and plot to tear others down from higher positions as well as erect obstacles for those lower down. This is where the Machiavellian and psychopathy traits emerge.

Base Level types have no tolerance for anything that impedes their sense of entitlement in any way. They are the first to flout any societal rule that puts them at disadvantage or inconveniences them. They are also the first to support any law or societal structures that provide them advantages while disadvantaging as many other people as possible.

To them life is about survival of the fittest and they of course are the fittest and most deserving. Life is a game of power and winner take all and there is no room for anyone else but them.

The deadly combination of Base Level Humans

Ignorance combined with arrogance is perhaps the most destructive combination of personality traits. Ignorance keeps you from understanding what you currently don’t. Arrogance creates the illusion that your way is the only way. But before there is ignorance there is bias. And before there is arrogance there is dogma. Ignorance comes from being unwilling to consider other points of view. Dogma spawns from thinking you are always right. Bias and dogma are the parents of ignorance and arrogance. Bias in a Base Level Human is often so strong they will not even consider any data or information that contradicts what they currently believe. Dogma makes it impossible to change one’s mind. When what you think you know becomes the only thing you want to know you have bias. When a biased opinion becomes one’s identity you have dogma.

Spotting Base Level Humans

We humans like to naturally categorize things as good and bad, black and white. We prefer cut and dry dichotomies. I urge you to resist that temptation with this three human model. Just as next level human is not called higher level human, base level human is not called lower-level human. When we are operating from our base level, we are not necessarily bad, although this psychological operating system is most likely to result in immoral and destructive behavior.

The point to remember is that base level humans are not bad, they are just afraid. Even that is not really unique to them. I often like to say we humans, every single one of us, is inherently lay, ignorant and scared shitless. None of us can really escape this. It is the way we react to fear that makes us either more base level or culture level or next level.

Base level types react to fear and uncertainty with a drive to collect power and want control. Culture level types react to fear by finding a group to be a part of. Next Level Humans react by seeking to collaborate, connect and integrate themselves and others.

Whenever fear and uncertainty lead to a feeling of “I need to take care of myself everyone else be damned” you are dealing with base level behavior.

BASE-LEVEL HUMAN BEHAVIORS CAN BE SUMMED UP LIKE THIS:

1. Major concerns: Safety & Certainty

2. Emotional driver: Fear

3. Personality style*: Pessimist (primary focus on keeping others down)

4. Reciprocity style**: Taker

5. Relationship style***: Avoidant

6. Motto: Me Against The World

7. Philosophy: Every man for themselves, Eye For An Eye (do unto others as they do unto you)