The 3 Fundamentals of Human Behavior

Desire, emotion, and knowledge.

Bryan Dijkhuizen
Mind Cafe
Published in
5 min readNov 2, 2024

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Image by Ben Sweet via Unsplash

“Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge” — Plato

This quote breaks down our behavior to the core.

The holy trinity of humans:

  • Desire
  • Emotion
  • Knowledge.

Each individual could harm us because they’re stronger than their counterparts at that moment, but combined and perfectly balanced, they might be a superpower.

But what are they and how can you use them to your advantage?

Control Your Desires

Humans have all kinds of desires. Good ones and bad ones, but I can really hold you back in what you want to achieve the things you desire are often not what you need.

You see there’s a contradiction in that.

A lot of people want to make money they want to have a big career they want to be top sports players or name any desire that humans can have but often that’s not what makes us happy.

Happiness comes from within and one has to ask to be there to be able to achieve things.

Not the other way around that’s where a lot of people go wrong.

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Mind Cafe
Mind Cafe

Published in Mind Cafe

Relaxed, inspiring essays about happiness.

Bryan Dijkhuizen
Bryan Dijkhuizen

Written by Bryan Dijkhuizen

Writing about the life of a neurodivergent creative in a neurotypical world. — https://bryandijkh.substack.com/

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