I've chosen to answer this email with this blog post, as the sender is a very good example of a proactive student. He reads the material, he questions and examines it for truth and reasonability, and then he synthesizes it in his own mind, primarily by writing down what he understands, so that it becomes his own. He is highly intentional. He is honest (and aware) about what is going on with him as he attempts to develop a rhythm and the time for learning. Note how his statements are clear and definite - as he goes through the reading he decides what is true and what isn't true (or asks questions to find out what is true).
My answers are bolded and in brackets. I have bolded and italicized some of his statements so that they stand out for you to notice. I have also added links to some of the site's pieces on a subject.
THE COMMUNICATION
Keith,
It took some time for me to read the information that you have posted on the blog. I have read and reread the articles for better understanding and have analyzed them with my life experience. Now I will try to cross a parallel line with the information and my experience.
First of all, I would like to start with acceptance of your opinion concerning intuition. You are absolutely right, that intuition is a good signal for an action, but the final decision for an action has to be made by the higher brain, based on logic and critical thinking.
“Brain 101”
I again agree with you only the higher brain is capable of running our life, make decisions and choose directions. In theory, it looks quite easy, but in reality, I have noticed that about 75% of all my time the show runs the “monkey”. Sad, but it is true. It starts to run early in the morning when the mood is too optimistic for the future day, and accelerates when I am out of the balance (tired or after a bad night). The problem is that the “monkey” is too automatic, and in most cases is difficult to overcome it with consciousness. When I try to be more critical of myself, it helps me to “switch” to my higher brain for some time, I try to stop, take a pause and start thinking about things. Also, I have noticed when I am in a hurry the “monkey” switches automatically. [This automaticity of the primitive lower brain is "functional" with regard to survival, as we would not be able to process it all through the higher brain. But as we learn more, we will "see" when to intervene with the higher brain and when to just let it be, perhaps a bit like managing Lennie (our metaphor for the lower brain).]
What is a solution? In my opinion:
You need to stay calm and don’t hurry (For that you need to plan your time and actions).
You need to stay in the homeostasis zone (Because when I am tired, I can’t control my mood, thoughts, and actions [yes, a good thing to notice...]).
You need to be more critical of yourself and remind yourself that you need to act from the higher brain.
You need to try to control your thoughts (Because when I start dreaming on some subject, my brain comes with unrealistic thoughts and pictures, and as the result I lose control on other things).
[Excellent thoughts!]
Might be you have something to add …
[Excellent thoughts and observations. As you increase your awareness, you will tend to "see" and be aware of what is going on in your mind such that you will automatically assess things as true or untrue (made up!) and you will tend to engage your higher brain on purpose more often (a lot more often as you practice doing this).
Technically, your primitive lower brain is just coughing up bits of data that could be relevant to whatever you're doing (though sometimes it is hard to see how the info is relevant) - often it is pure nonsense and often it is not really relevant - understand this process is essential, as you'll be able to see it for what it is (or isn't) and not respond at all to it.
Also, as you gain understanding of how the primitive mind works, you'll realize that you, indeed, cannot overpower or control it via pure force - the metaphor of it being a trainable elephant, but still only an elephant, is one to keep in mind. The mind will keep coughing up "thoughts" but you'll see, more and more, that the thoughts are just reactive spewing of random and often meaningless imaginings.
No metaphor fits exactly but the elephant, Lennie, and holding the primitive mind as if it is a child not using reasoning are useful ways of understanding the reality of how the primitive brain unthinkingly throws out thoughts. As one understands the process more clearly, one begins to see the false signals 'telling" us what to do as being not valid at all (not fitting the reality of what works in our current world) -. and as being a mere primitive impulse that does not have dominion over oneself (i.e. it is not a legitimate command of what to do!!!).
Of course, the primitive mind is extremely useful and a great supportive mechanism and system, but not a system to rely on or use for rational thinking. Knowing this is tremendously freeing, as it allows us to no longer believe many of the fear thoughts that plague humans unrealistically and unnecessarily.]
“Insanity - A form of irreality, where there is a large gap between beliefs and the reality of what actually works in the world.” I liked this quote very much, it let me think about “A Beautiful Mind” movie with Russell Crowe. It is amazing what our mind is capable of - we create false beliefs and then we blindly believe them. I agree with you that there are rules and laws for everything in this world, and you just need to learn them. In my experience, I had many mistaken beliefs and still have, and some of them lead to painful experiences. As the result, a lot of wasted time and energy, but from another point, they have brought to me understanding “how you don’t need to operate in life”, and gave me impulses for searching for other ways and strategies.
Our beliefs determine our actions, our actions based on wrong beliefs lead to undesired results [especially undesired and painful emotions that are unnecessary and serve no useful purpose]. If one has realistic beliefs, it is quite possible that he can achieve the desired results. So, one of the key points to happiness is the realistic beliefs. Happiness is when we apply our actions to achieve desired results, and finally, we achieve them.
What are the realistic beliefs?
It is the beliefs that works in our real and materialistic world, they are based on real rules and laws like the rules and laws in physics. We need just learn them, and then apply them…
And one more thing, when I read and reread your reply I wondered how it is prompt, logical and well-rounded. It shows that you know the subject very well and you don’t need to search for the information because all information is already inside of you. Then I asked myself, how is it possible for one person to develop and integrate such kind of knowledge in one lifetime? I don’t ask about your life circumstance, I am more interested, how is it possible to develop such brain capacity and functionality?
Because for me it takes time, I have the time only early in the mornings 15 – 20 minutes, and I read the information on the site before sleep about 30 – 45 minutes. When I start reading, other unimportant thoughts come into my mind, and they distract me, of course, [It is interesting to see how, as we "solve" false beliefs and unresolved problems, the mind is "freed up", hugely!] I try to stay more focused and concentrate on reading. I need to be more focused on the subject that I am studying for a better understanding. Of course, for me it is not difficult to reread an article, but from another point I could read the next and my progression could be more efficient.
[To answer your "how is it possible" question: you will find it quite possible for yourself to recall and "know" many things as you do your studies. As you reason out things and then write them down as to the conclusions you come to, you will tend to "own" that understanding forever (though some details may have to be reviewed occasionally from your external memory that you can set up for reference). Just as you remember basic arithmetic and reading, you will understand how things work and how to work them, throughout your life. Effective learning involves understanding of a process (of whatever is involved in the subject area), and what happens is that you begin to "accumulate" the ability to use the information much more rapidly and more permanently than you might imagine. That information (learned reasoning, thinking) becomes "top of the mind" and becomes immediately accessible and usable in the moment.
With regard to focus, a human will never be "perfect", as we are not yet evolved to that point! But we can learn not to pay attention to "unimportant thoughts", as we begin to understand that the primitive brain is simply coughing up stuff that it "thinks" we need to process - as we begin to see that we do not need to process (or solve) these things, the thoughts are so quickly dismissed that they virtually do not interfere with our learning and being present in the moment, focused on what we want to focus on.
This occurs gradually, of course, as you "convince" yourself more and more of the facts of how the brain works such that you just pick and choose what is relevant and what is not really relevant.
The exhortation to "be present" is no longer something you have to put a lot of effort into, as you dismiss thoughts of the past (which the brain coughs up to "solve") and of the "what ifs" to fear in the future - as, simplistically, if our thoughts are about the past or about the future they take up mental space that prevents us from being present, i.e. if there is no worry about the past nor the future, all that is left is the present. (Duh! Of course!)
Note that as you solve problems and clear up problematic thoughts, the primitive mind has less left to "solve" and pay attention to! That is why systematically capturing your beliefs that cause negative emotions and clear up your thoughts you have less to "worry" or be anxious about - and more ability to just enjoy life!
Once we are no longer entertaining useless thoughts and fears, life becomes very easy and very pleasurable. And, of course, we need to spend the time learning how this works and what is not valid (such as intuition) - then we are free of emotional turmoil and "suffering". There is nothing to really suffer from - we only have a gift of life that is a great miracle of opportunity that we get to use to harvest great experiences of "life value".
The time spent learning how the brain works and revising your belief system will be paid back with many hours freed up from having to deal with and struggle with false thoughts and unnecessary mistakes. It is quite remarkable how few people take the opportunity to learn what is necessary, though it is understandable that they do not yet know or understand how greatly beneficial it is!]
If you have to say something on this, I would be very grateful!
M
[Good job on this endeavor to make sense of and understand how life works! You are headed the right direction and you will get many, many benefits (and elimination of negatives) from doing "the work" (homework) to "learn life". ]
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