More Brain Tricks
Aug. 31st, 2011 06:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trickykittyPosted for my own reference. I've quoted a good chunk of this chapter so that I can read it after I've returned the book.
We have to accept what we probably will become, and we have to accept other living things. That is a remarkable leap of perspective; unfortunately, too few have managed it.
How can we accept what to expect if we don't know what's coming? The crux is that once we accept ourselves, our past, and the fact that it's what's in our brains at the instant that makes us who we are, then we can also understand ourselves.
We can understand that we might like to dream of terrible rape scenes because it makes us feel good or gives us a wonderful sensation when we masturbate. We accept that. ... If we went out and acted on a potentially harmful thought, actually tried to commit an act such as rape, our best course of actions would be to volunteer for confinement so the world would be safe while we work to neutralize that particular brain tape.
As long as we are not abusing others, we should accept it. Too many nice people in this world overburden themselves with worry because of dreams, fantasies, and illusions that go directly against their own moral standards or codes of ethics.
However, there is nothing wrong with these responses of our mind as long as they aren't acted upon. Literally, we must accept them, just let them be, without even worrying about where they came from. What difference does it make? They exist. They are there and eventually may fade away. The again, maybe not. With total acceptance of one's self and one's conditioning, it doesn't make much difference.
You have these fantasies, illusions, or dreams that are not at all in character with the structure of your basic personality. Nobody understands the human brain, except superficially. No one can tell you exactly why you have these dreams or fantasies. For all we know, it was all passed down through some part of a gene. Or it might have been caused by something you read at a sensitive age or saw or heard. Some exterior conditioning. Who knows and, as I said before, who cares? It is something recorded in your brain and you must accept it now. Fighting it is meaningless. You cannot win. If it will go away, it will do so without any pressure from your rational self.
The important thing is to continue exerting your rational will to prevent yourself from abusing others, either verbally or physically. This is what all thinking humans in the world must do if we are to survive. That is, if there is a reason to survive.
You see, if we know ourselves very well and accept what we know, we can be more tolerant of our own expectations.
Let's look at the example of a person who has studied piano for many years. He enjoys the piano. But he recognizes his technique will never be good enough to perform as a soloist in concert halls. He continues working hard but he is not frustrated at his lack of progress or his defeat at auditions, because he accepts himself and his abilities. So if he truly loves the piano, he will play in an orchestra or in a restaurant or with a band or at parties. He can alter his style, his music, to suit the piano-playing niche he selects.
Or he might decide to do something else. This man will find much greater harmony in his life than the burgeoning pianist who does not quite have the necessary talent, who refuses to accept what is obvious to him as well as others, who goes on fighting for years in frustration. In the end, he winds up bitter and jealous of those who have passed him by. Perhaps he is encouraged in all of this by teachers, coaches, or relatives who espouse the 'winning is everything' attitude. They are as guilty of nonacceptance as the pianist is.
Oh, certainly, we can all look at musicians, soccer players, gymnasts, mathematicians, scientists, and others who fight through every conceivable obstacle thrown in their paths, including physical or neurological impediments or whatever, and somehow successfully break through. But the odds of this are enormous. To me it is hardly worth the misery it causes among the masses who are not great successes. I find the concept of a 'winner' faulty.
"I should accept my ability, work hard at improving it, if I desire; but not feel frustrated because I see writing and other literary work I would like to emulate, but cannot."
Accepting an expectation does not mean that we have to quit. Working hard, trying to improve one's self can be great fun, a source of enjoyment. If we work hard, there will always be something coming out of the effort that will be rewarding. Feeling rewarded is an excellent sensation, like eating a delicious meal. While it isn't lasting, it is a pleasant emotion to experience.
What a marvelous thing if we could all work toward our own betterment without the nagging fear of failure. Some of us do succeed in this. When it happens, it is a marvelous state of mind that brings us remarkably close to the Higher Perspective I have described.
...
Human nature is such that it adapts quickly to conveniences, wealth, power, and so forth. Over the long term, they do not really raise one's level of contentment. That only comes from love and the lack of fear. I love with all my heart. I ask nothing in return from people or animals. At my age, there is very little to fear. For awhile I feared death. Now it is only a curiosity. So my general level of contentment is high. In terms of lifestyle per se, I do not know what more to aim for. In terms of interests, mine range far and wide and I give my mind very little rest. This environment suits me well.
...
Human beings should be able to accept everyone, even if we truly don't like them.
It is absolutely fine not to like somebody. More specifically, it is absolutely fine not to like somebody's personality. That is far different than disliking an entire group of people, not all of whom you've met. Here your dislike is based on a blind prejudice. But to dislike an individual of whatever group? What can be wrong with that? We are all different, chemical creatures. Not one of us is alike. We are designed so that we cannot be compatible with everyone. Perhaps there are some rare fortunate persons who can be compatible with every other person, but I have yet to meet one.
In a nutshell, I am saying that disliking somebody specifically because of how they think, what they say, how they act, even how they look, is okay. However, while you dislike a person you still must accept him or her.
Accept him for what he is. You can't change his program, to use the word loosely. He is what he is. But you don't have to live with him. You don't even have to say hello to him, if the feeling goes that deep. But accept him. Let him be. What does it hurt? Who does it hurt?
What I'm saying is, accept his presence here on Earth because he is here in the same historical time period that you are. There is nothing you can do about that except have him killed, which is not a recommended way to handle a deep dislike for another person. It if was, most of us would end up dead.
There is usually someone in our lives who has a deep dislike for us, or there was at some time in the past. If they were smart, they avoided us, just as you should avoid those you dislike. If you can't avoid them, then you will probably have a problem. But then if you can manage to accept the problem, your level of contentment should not be unduly affected.
...
If each of us does not accept him- or herself, we appear to be more attracted to disliking others. Within that range of dislike is group prejudice. It is much more difficult to reach a perspective that can neutralize a brain program of prejudice unless we start to become more accepting of ourselves as individuals. We are what we are at this instant. This is how we were programmed to be both genetically and environmentally, and at this instant there is not much that can be done to change. All change comes slowly. It may happen overnight, but a good deal of effort had to precede it.
If we can recognize that, then we can also recognize that others around us are what they are and we must accept them as well. On the Earth no one has living rights that supersede those of others. Anyone who thinks so has simply been brainwashed by their authority figures who don't know any more than anyone else. We can dislike other individuals as we discussed. If we do, we should avoid them.
But we cannot let this lead us into looking at the groups to which they belong in a nonaccepting manner. We must study this attitude within ourselves and see the irrationality of it. We must concentrate on it without willing it to go away. It is practically impossible to force the mind: the brain is a stubborn instrument. If we don't resist the prejudicial attitudes but simply concentrate on them, one day, possibly overnight, they will melt away.
It is a trick we play back on our own brains. This overnight success, however, might take months or even years to achieve, depending on how deep the program is. However, once we become accepting of ourselves and of others, both individually and collectively, we will raise our level of contentment.
Irrational dislikes and attitudes, those we cannot logically think through, result in conflicts within us that tend to bring us down. Our general level of contentment, that line from which we go to our highs and lows as humans, is lower when we have these irrational attitudes. When we get low, we are really low, and when we are high, we can't get as high as we might be if our general contentment level was higher.
...
Humans, as we've pointed out, can think rationally. As a result, we are capable of observing these limbic programs running in our brains and we can work to keep them from causing chaos in our lives. We have too many programs running in our brains that were useful when we were living in caves, but whose high-intensity level we don't need anymore.
The idea is to understand that we have these programs and that we can do something about them.
We have to accept what we probably will become, and we have to accept other living things. That is a remarkable leap of perspective; unfortunately, too few have managed it.
How can we accept what to expect if we don't know what's coming? The crux is that once we accept ourselves, our past, and the fact that it's what's in our brains at the instant that makes us who we are, then we can also understand ourselves.
We can understand that we might like to dream of terrible rape scenes because it makes us feel good or gives us a wonderful sensation when we masturbate. We accept that. ... If we went out and acted on a potentially harmful thought, actually tried to commit an act such as rape, our best course of actions would be to volunteer for confinement so the world would be safe while we work to neutralize that particular brain tape.
As long as we are not abusing others, we should accept it. Too many nice people in this world overburden themselves with worry because of dreams, fantasies, and illusions that go directly against their own moral standards or codes of ethics.
However, there is nothing wrong with these responses of our mind as long as they aren't acted upon. Literally, we must accept them, just let them be, without even worrying about where they came from. What difference does it make? They exist. They are there and eventually may fade away. The again, maybe not. With total acceptance of one's self and one's conditioning, it doesn't make much difference.
You have these fantasies, illusions, or dreams that are not at all in character with the structure of your basic personality. Nobody understands the human brain, except superficially. No one can tell you exactly why you have these dreams or fantasies. For all we know, it was all passed down through some part of a gene. Or it might have been caused by something you read at a sensitive age or saw or heard. Some exterior conditioning. Who knows and, as I said before, who cares? It is something recorded in your brain and you must accept it now. Fighting it is meaningless. You cannot win. If it will go away, it will do so without any pressure from your rational self.
The important thing is to continue exerting your rational will to prevent yourself from abusing others, either verbally or physically. This is what all thinking humans in the world must do if we are to survive. That is, if there is a reason to survive.
You see, if we know ourselves very well and accept what we know, we can be more tolerant of our own expectations.
Let's look at the example of a person who has studied piano for many years. He enjoys the piano. But he recognizes his technique will never be good enough to perform as a soloist in concert halls. He continues working hard but he is not frustrated at his lack of progress or his defeat at auditions, because he accepts himself and his abilities. So if he truly loves the piano, he will play in an orchestra or in a restaurant or with a band or at parties. He can alter his style, his music, to suit the piano-playing niche he selects.
Or he might decide to do something else. This man will find much greater harmony in his life than the burgeoning pianist who does not quite have the necessary talent, who refuses to accept what is obvious to him as well as others, who goes on fighting for years in frustration. In the end, he winds up bitter and jealous of those who have passed him by. Perhaps he is encouraged in all of this by teachers, coaches, or relatives who espouse the 'winning is everything' attitude. They are as guilty of nonacceptance as the pianist is.
Oh, certainly, we can all look at musicians, soccer players, gymnasts, mathematicians, scientists, and others who fight through every conceivable obstacle thrown in their paths, including physical or neurological impediments or whatever, and somehow successfully break through. But the odds of this are enormous. To me it is hardly worth the misery it causes among the masses who are not great successes. I find the concept of a 'winner' faulty.
"I should accept my ability, work hard at improving it, if I desire; but not feel frustrated because I see writing and other literary work I would like to emulate, but cannot."
Accepting an expectation does not mean that we have to quit. Working hard, trying to improve one's self can be great fun, a source of enjoyment. If we work hard, there will always be something coming out of the effort that will be rewarding. Feeling rewarded is an excellent sensation, like eating a delicious meal. While it isn't lasting, it is a pleasant emotion to experience.
What a marvelous thing if we could all work toward our own betterment without the nagging fear of failure. Some of us do succeed in this. When it happens, it is a marvelous state of mind that brings us remarkably close to the Higher Perspective I have described.
...
Human nature is such that it adapts quickly to conveniences, wealth, power, and so forth. Over the long term, they do not really raise one's level of contentment. That only comes from love and the lack of fear. I love with all my heart. I ask nothing in return from people or animals. At my age, there is very little to fear. For awhile I feared death. Now it is only a curiosity. So my general level of contentment is high. In terms of lifestyle per se, I do not know what more to aim for. In terms of interests, mine range far and wide and I give my mind very little rest. This environment suits me well.
...
Human beings should be able to accept everyone, even if we truly don't like them.
It is absolutely fine not to like somebody. More specifically, it is absolutely fine not to like somebody's personality. That is far different than disliking an entire group of people, not all of whom you've met. Here your dislike is based on a blind prejudice. But to dislike an individual of whatever group? What can be wrong with that? We are all different, chemical creatures. Not one of us is alike. We are designed so that we cannot be compatible with everyone. Perhaps there are some rare fortunate persons who can be compatible with every other person, but I have yet to meet one.
In a nutshell, I am saying that disliking somebody specifically because of how they think, what they say, how they act, even how they look, is okay. However, while you dislike a person you still must accept him or her.
Accept him for what he is. You can't change his program, to use the word loosely. He is what he is. But you don't have to live with him. You don't even have to say hello to him, if the feeling goes that deep. But accept him. Let him be. What does it hurt? Who does it hurt?
What I'm saying is, accept his presence here on Earth because he is here in the same historical time period that you are. There is nothing you can do about that except have him killed, which is not a recommended way to handle a deep dislike for another person. It if was, most of us would end up dead.
There is usually someone in our lives who has a deep dislike for us, or there was at some time in the past. If they were smart, they avoided us, just as you should avoid those you dislike. If you can't avoid them, then you will probably have a problem. But then if you can manage to accept the problem, your level of contentment should not be unduly affected.
...
If each of us does not accept him- or herself, we appear to be more attracted to disliking others. Within that range of dislike is group prejudice. It is much more difficult to reach a perspective that can neutralize a brain program of prejudice unless we start to become more accepting of ourselves as individuals. We are what we are at this instant. This is how we were programmed to be both genetically and environmentally, and at this instant there is not much that can be done to change. All change comes slowly. It may happen overnight, but a good deal of effort had to precede it.
If we can recognize that, then we can also recognize that others around us are what they are and we must accept them as well. On the Earth no one has living rights that supersede those of others. Anyone who thinks so has simply been brainwashed by their authority figures who don't know any more than anyone else. We can dislike other individuals as we discussed. If we do, we should avoid them.
But we cannot let this lead us into looking at the groups to which they belong in a nonaccepting manner. We must study this attitude within ourselves and see the irrationality of it. We must concentrate on it without willing it to go away. It is practically impossible to force the mind: the brain is a stubborn instrument. If we don't resist the prejudicial attitudes but simply concentrate on them, one day, possibly overnight, they will melt away.
It is a trick we play back on our own brains. This overnight success, however, might take months or even years to achieve, depending on how deep the program is. However, once we become accepting of ourselves and of others, both individually and collectively, we will raise our level of contentment.
Irrational dislikes and attitudes, those we cannot logically think through, result in conflicts within us that tend to bring us down. Our general level of contentment, that line from which we go to our highs and lows as humans, is lower when we have these irrational attitudes. When we get low, we are really low, and when we are high, we can't get as high as we might be if our general contentment level was higher.
...
Humans, as we've pointed out, can think rationally. As a result, we are capable of observing these limbic programs running in our brains and we can work to keep them from causing chaos in our lives. We have too many programs running in our brains that were useful when we were living in caves, but whose high-intensity level we don't need anymore.
The idea is to understand that we have these programs and that we can do something about them.
