The Intellect is not Boss

 
In every waking moment we make choices: mostly with sensible decisions based on coherent information with due consideration for consequences. But intellect alone does not control thinking. Neuroscientists point out that our actual ‘brainpower’ lies in signals between 86 billion unique neurons. Their intricate networks communicate, relay, and integrate signals within and between regions of the brain. These regions function with changing strengths and different information for various purposes. Their electrochemical impulses act and react with a barrage of rational, emotional, social, cultural, environmental, and physiological influences. Galaxies of neural forces evaluate risks and benefits in every choice. A brief explanation of some cerebral aspects of decision making is shown in, “The Human Brain: How We Decide”.

The brain is the administrative center of our lives; yet it functions like a business with no boss. And the business is ultimately ‘all about me’. Some degree of personal gratification influences everything—even altruism and empathy. But the brain need not be limited to ‘me’. Rebecca Gladding writes that meditation can extend our brain processes to improve all aspects of life. (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/use-your-mind-change-your-brain/201305/is-your-brain-meditation).

Even without formal meditation some simple contemplation can alter our habitual neural patterns that limit us to what Bertram Russel calls the “tyranny of custom”. Like all ‘philosophical’ practice, he asserts that contemplation can “…remove the somewhat arrogant dogmatism of those who have never travelled into the region of liberating doubt, and… [keep]… alive our sense of wonder by showing familiar things in an unfamiliar aspect” (http://skepdic.com/russell.html). But our intellect wants to be boss; it resists ‘liberating doubt’ and mistrusts the prospect of change.

In order to release the liberating effects of healthy doubt, we need to know more about our fixed ‘me’ thoughts. To do so we might simply make a “searching and fearless moral inventory” (http://www.aa.org/assets/en_US/en_step4.pdf.). This entails only deliberately honest thinking. But we are self-deceptive. In “Choose Honesty” (http://choosehonesty.com) Cortney S. Warren writes that we must transcend inherent self-deception if we are to reach fuller self-understanding. To do so we can keep track of our emotions, thoughts and behavior. They are not always pleasant or easy to face. Distressing emotional upsets, for example can flare up out of past situations. And our behavior can be at odds with our best intentions—no-one opts for jealousy!

Without the moderating influence of contemplation, our ‘me’ centered decision-making can become distorted—especially if what has hurt or threatened us causes resentment. We resent what has been done to us that we think ought not to have been done to us, and what was not done for us that ought to have been done. And with resentment there is no health in us. According to Mark Sichel, 10 StepsTo Letting Go Resentment– resentment “probably constitutes the single most devastating impediment to repairing a disintegrating intimate connection, family rift, or severed friendship.” And resentments even separate us from ourselves when we let anger and revenge take control—we cannot think clearly with clenched fists!

Unlike resentment, contemplation provides a positive, liberating influence. If used with, say meditation it can pattern new neural passages for enriched attitudes and greater self-acceptance. But as Buddha proclaimed, we cannot be peaceful and resentful at the same time. The next essay in this series demonstrates the toxic effects of resentment with links to guidance on how to dissipate its influence.

Read Part 1 Here
Read Part 2 Here
Read Part 3 Here
Read Part 5 Here
Read Part 6 Here