As babies grow and develop, they display numerous animal behaviors common to all humans. Small children fight over possessions and compete for attention. Often willful, they know what makes their survival optimum and insist on having it. Animal behavior has positive aspects, as well as negative. It gives children the ability to set boundaries and define who they are in relation to our world. As children become adults, we learn to tame our “beast within.” The more love we are raised with, the softer our animal becomes. But it never goes away.

In popular psycho-spiritual circles, the animal-within is synonymous with the ego. This ego/beast isn't connected to the finer emotions. Rather, it exists in the hard-wiring of our primitive brain, which believes in survival at all costs. Its only job is to drive you to get your needs met and make sure you are thriving. The beast uses fear and anger and their related emotions to motivate you toward optimal survival. For example, your anger tells you someone has stepped on your toes and it is time to set a boundary or defend one. If the beast has all of its survival needs met and there is no threat nearby, it doesn't give you much trouble (although it still loves to compete).

Our world has evolved into a high-tech realm, especially when compared to primitive man. Our beast has also evolved into a high-tech mode. It loves to control. We don't only want to survive now, we want to look good and be constantly entertained. In the process of our evolution, the beast has gained more intelligence and become more complicated in its drive to success.

The beast is quite obvious when it comes to our addictions. Addiction is always born of the traumatized beast. No matter if it is cocaine you are addicted to or television, if it is deemed necessary to your wellbeing, the beast will make sure you get your daily dose. It sets up a craving response to repeat behavior it feels gives it control. Any addict knows how “the monkey on the back” can cause all kinds of trouble. The more fear the beast carries from past experience, the stronger it becomes in its influence.

Because our macrocosmic world is filled with trauma, and most of us have had our well being threatened in thousands of subtle and not so subtle ways, our beasts can become mean and over-reactive. Like an animal that is cornered, an inner beast may attack, manipulate, and judge others harshly to keep itself emotionally safe. It may control with anger, threats, and even abuse, if necessary. If verbally attacked, it may automatically attack back – before you even have time to think about it. After all, its job is to protect you from that which is threatening. No matter how nice we are on the outside, we will inevitably encounter behaviors that trouble us – unless we recognize the beast for what it is and don't take it personally.

A quick glance at current events quite obviously reveals that much in our world is a fight between beasts. A wonderful spiritual exercise is to notice the beast – your own as well as that in other people. As you study the beast, you will soon see it everywhere – on the news, in restaurants, at work, at home and on the road. (Road rage is the traumatized beast at the height of its modern primitive behavior.) As you notice and watch the beast in all of its varied dances, you also notice that you are not it. While it is a mechanism that runs in all humans, it is not who you really are.

Social acceptance can be very important to the beast. We are herding animals, after all, and to be separated from the herd can signify death to our primitive brains. As a result, we often go through very strange rituals in order to be accepted so that abandonment doesn't occur.

In our quest for spirituality, or social acceptance, we often ignore the beast instead of trying to solve its conflicts (and thereby relieve its stress). Long-term stress can create shadow material, whereby the beast begins to hide its agenda. Then, we puzzle over unwanted behavior. Many of us carry a lot of guilt for our shadowy beast's inappropriate actions, especially those of us who are hard on ourselves. At times, it can become hard to control our own control mechanism!

So, what can we do about this inner animal that resides within? Being able to recognize the beast and tame it can contribute vastly to our happiness. The more you get to know it, through observation, the less shadowy it becomes. Knowing yourself better through self-reflection helps you separate the beast from your psyche. Then, you can tame the beast.

Taming your beast and the beast of others is very simple. Like any other animal, it responds to love. Love and acceptance make it feel safe. When if feels safe, it stops its drama. Think of a wild animal that has been hurt at the hand of others: it is naturally apprehensive and may bite and snarl to keep you away. But give the beast love – offer it food and safe shelter – and soon it will become devoted to you. This is also true of loving and accepting yourself. The beast in us is the part of the psyche that needs love the most. Love is the antidote of fear, always.

A loving vibration can make a fear vibration disappear, even in the middle of a panic attack. A surefire way to stop fear, and tame the beast, is to meditate on Divine Love. Fear has to subside in such a meditation, for love and fear cannot operate in the same space. You can invoke the presence of love by using an affirmation such as, "God is always present, so love is always present. Love is here with me now." Meditating on love, even when not in a panic, can additionally clear old fear from your animal, and is a great way to spiritually grow.