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ON MENTAL ILLNESS: basic clarity for you "normal" people
This week's column is a temporary departure from discussing psychiatric disorders, and instead, I am speaking of people's minds in general. Next week, I will probably be back to my normal discussion of we who are considered "abnormal."
The human mind is designed to do what it is told to do. This isn't to say that people by their nature are obedient, although in many cases they are. By this, I mean that the human mind, analogously to computers, is designed to run on its instructions.
The human mind also has the tendency to generate its instructions. These instructions could come in the form of a basic assumption, or they could come in the form of a desire, a fear, or being angry at someone or something.
Here are some examples of instructions/assumptions from which people's minds sometimes operate:
"I'm dumb"; with that instruction, one has programmed oneself to think and behave as though dumb, and, regardless of whether or not one's brain works, the individual will act as though dumb, and will be treated by others accordingly. "I can succeed at any job"; the individual has programmed oneself to be successful at work. "The world is--[harsh, scary, mean]; the individual has programmed oneself to be paranoid. "I can't stand the temperature and stuffiness in this room"; this causes claustrophobia and possibly agitation, and, this perception becomes dominant, taking over the mind. "I can ignore the temperature and stale air in this room"; this assumption/command allows peacefulness, and you might even stop noticing the air in the room.
People are usually unaware that they are operating from a basic assumption or instruction. This is a blind spot in human perception. Most of us are unaware of the very assumption or instruction from which we operate, and instead, it is a platform on which everything else is built.
People are able to operate from about a dozen (by my estimate) instructions and assumptions in any given moment. These "postulates" are in a cache in the mind, an area we don't normally look at, but which provides guidance to the mind. When we have unhappy emotions, it means that, in the instruction/assumption cache, there are complaints.
I can make a good guess of why the human mind is designed this way.
Primitive and modern human beings must be prodded by strong emotional drives, and if we are not, there is no reason to make the effort of hunting for food, going to work at your job every day, acquiring mates, protecting your offspring, and fighting off threats. The design is such that it is very hard to circumvent these emotional prods. If doing that were easy, very few people would try to survive and to pass along their genes.
The human mind probably couldn't work without some amount of motive that is backed by an emotional charge. Without having basic instructions, there would be nothing around which to organize thoughts and emotions.
If we were easily aware of the instructions from which we operate, and if it was simple to change these, most people would reconfigure their minds not to produce any more discomfort or suffering. This would lead most people either to their demise, or to not procreating.
However, as modern day women and men, once we have adequate brainpower to function in the absence of these primitive instincts, there is probably little or no need to keep having them.
It is this system of being driven by strong emotions, a leftover from the Stone Age, that poses a threat to the survival of life on our planet. Almost everyone functions this way, and it is outdated.
Yet, even at this point in my life, I rely on anxious feelings in my body to warn me of an imminent mistake. For me, the ability to feel pain, fear, and suffering, is useful. I have redone things on the inside to the point where I have some core immunity. This means that while I might have painful emotions, I do not usually suffer because of them.
I would not consider the above to be "enlightenment." I see it as a "setup" or customization. I assume that I am still saddled with most of the same ignorance had by most people.
With enough practice, many people can become aware of the cache of postulates that drive their minds. These postulates can then be edited, to achieve more comfort, or to halt a painful pattern of thought.
I do not take basic clarity for granted. When I don’t have it, I am probably unaware of the fact. When I have clarity, there is no way to be truly certain that I actually have it.
I don’t understand much about the human mind. For example, how do we generate consciousness? And, what kind of odd creations are we, really? My studies have been limited to learning how to make my mind more accurate and have less suffering. However, this doesn’t scratch the surface of the mystery of life.
I have discontinued sales of two of my four electronic books through Amazon, because they have not paid me for them in more than a year. Physical books should still be available. Thank you for your patience. If you have problems ordering and/or receiving books, please contact me at: bragenkjack [at] yahoo [dot] com.
