In the Acrobat Sutta, the Buddha presents a simple yet striking image: two acrobats performing a balancing act, one standing on the shoulders of the other. The teacher says to the student, “You look after me, and I’ll look after you. If we protect one another, we’ll perform our tricks, earn a reward, and come down safely.”

The Buddha gently reimagines the scene. “It is not in watching after the other that one protects the other,” he says. “By watching after oneself, one protects the other and by watching after the other, one also protects oneself.”

The convergence of Sigmund Freud's Drive Theory, Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution, and Buddhist philosophy offer a template for understanding human behaviour and consciousness. Each of these frameworks, while arising from different contexts and disciplines, intersects at critical points, providing a perspective on the nature of human existence.