I say it is a paradox, because we are conditioned to look in the wrong direction, which is the world of objects, including ideas, actions, phenomena, etc. The concern over surviving is the concern for the world of the body, but we are not the body or the world in which it seems to exist. Concerns about working, eating, tribal support, etc., are related only to the body.

The need to survive is within the world and the world is within us as consciousness. But the essential, fundamental, irreducible reality is what we are when the self and consciousness are stripped away. The paradox is that if we were to realize this immediately then all would fall into place. Otherwise we just continue chasing ideas, including the idea of nirvana, enlightenment, awakening, or whatever other term we choose to use. The sense of self is not satisfied to rest within the "I am."