The human psyche is a phenomenon that makes a piece of flesh a person. By animating our physical body, the psyche fills lifeless matter with conscious processes, one of which is our mind. This article will focus on the flawedness of our human mind, the causes of our inferiority complexes and self-doubt, what makes us get involved in arguments and prove our own innocence, as well as what keeps us in the comfort zone in fear of change. All this will be considered through the prism of some facets of our psyche. In this sense, this is another article on the structure of consciousness and exposing illusions.
This article draws on some of the ideas of the writer, Luke Reinhard.
The human psyche: natural selection
Many people know from school about the fascinating theory of natural selection. Natural selection is the process of survival and adaptation to life of the individuals most capable of this business. We can say that natural selection is the law that the strongest survive. And if you look at a person as a biological form that functions in nature along with other organisms and natural phenomena, the human mind is the main factor in the success that a person has achieved in his “natural” selection, becoming the head of the food chain. At the same time, it is completely normal that within the framework of this process, in the natural environment of a person such methods of adaptation and adaptation to natural conditions as reinforced concrete megalopolises, mechanical engineering, energy, television, the Internet, etc. have appeared. These are all simply factors of our success in natural selection of nature. All this dusty technogenic life is our natural habitat. And the reason for this "superiority" is our precious mind.
In the process of this natural selection, the main function of the mind is the survival of the individual and his adaptation to life. That is, in theory, the mind for the individual is a kind of tool for effective survival and adaptation. To put it simply, the main purpose of the mind is to take care of a person. That is, ideally, the person himself is an integral structure, separate "mechanisms" of which this structure is supported and developed. But the whole "trouble" is that this does not happen. There are more than enough examples of self-destruction of human individuals. Why does a person stuff his body with poisonous food, tobacco and alcohol? Why does a healthy lifestyle replace the "sedentary" one at the "screens"? Why do people unleash wars and conflicts? It's simple. Instead of taking care of the individual, the mind of the individual takes care of itself. And in this case, perhaps it would be more correct to say, not "the mind of man",and “a man of the mind”, in the same sense as, for example, the “owner's thing” or “the owner's pet” sounds. We are the pets of our minds.
Human psyche: identification
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Mind are interconnected reflections of life in the "mirror" of consciousness. Of course, this is a conditional definition. In the same way, we can say that the mind is thoughts, and thoughts are imprints of what is happening, a kind of record about the life taking place with us. By themselves, these reflections of life are impersonal. But passing in an interconnected sequence through our consciousness, they give rise to the personality of the individual, which participates in his life events. An individual is an individual that is self-aware. Due to the presence of self-awareness, an individual distinguishes itself from other individuals. In this sentence, the key word is "myself". Who is the self-aware individual? Individuality is what a person identifies with. And if the identification of an individual extended to everything that she feels, a person would not have such strange psychological divisions in which his mind rules the ball. The main task of the mind is to take care of the individual, but since the individual identifies himself with the mind, the mind in this situation begins to take care of itself. From this self-preoccupation, the ego arises in the mind. "I", "me", "mine": you feel what it smells like?
This vicious circle of the ego arises from the identification of the mind with itself. This is a kind of positive feedback, like the one that begins when we bring the microphone to the speakers. The noise from the speakers is transmitted to the microphone and then back to the speakers. So, walking in a circle, it is continuously amplified, transforming into a high-frequency squeak. The human ego is a high frequency thought "I". In childhood, usually around the age of two, this thought arises in a child instantly and usually lasts until the end of life. Until this age, the child perceives himself "as if from the outside" and speaks about himself in the third person. And when parents talk to a child about him, he perceives the object of their discussion as an outsider. But at some point, the child's mind suddenly begins to understand who was talking about all this time,and in the blink of an eye a small person has an ego - a thought - "I".
The ego is the part of the mind that takes care of itself, continually being reborn through this "care." The task of the mind is the survival of the master. But when the master is the mind, he takes care of himself. What is our mind? The mind is a concept, and when the mind takes care of itself, it takes care of the survival of the concepts that make it up. Instead of helping a person adapt to their environment, they use the person to help themselves adapt and survive in their comfort zone. The mind does everything to remain unchanged. He is even ready to attend to personal growth and self-development, if this will help create more favorable conditions for his own integrity.
Human psyche: self-affirmation
To be right is such a habitual desire for every person - just the desire of the mind to remain intact, to hang forever in the current state, without undergoing any changes, scrolling through the same thoughts. In this case, the mind will deceive itself to self-forgetfulness, throwing thoughts about the development of personality and self-knowledge to itself. The mind, by its very nature, is not interested in changing. Usually he does it forcedly, under the pressure of circumstances, giving exactly as much as necessary, while clinging to intermediate comfort zones with all his might in order to surrender as few of his positions as possible. But if somewhere the mind has undergone changes that have strengthened it in new, more advanced supports for its ego, it can suggest to itself that it loves change. Motivation is the thought of the mind about further prosperity, development and strengthening of its ego in its positions.
Selfishness is the active work of the mind to strengthen its position. The feeling of self-importance is the fear of the mind to undergo irreversible changes, to lose the support on which the ego rests, which for this reason the mind tries to strengthen and exalt. Self-affirmation is the protrusion of one's qualities by the mind in order to establish itself in their vitality. Pride is the mind's way of confirming to itself that it is alive and well. This "life" and prosperity is simply bringing old thoughts from the past to the surface as correct and appropriate. At the same time, the mind feels as if it “continues”, lives and prosper. He feels resilient, successful, correct and appropriate. At the same time, he is calm, because natural selection did not touch him. He is allowed to be.
Hence the thirst to be loved grows. We yearn to please others, so that a mind that does not know itself is convinced by the response of reality that it is approved in its current state. He will not be destroyed by argument, negative reaction, censure, condemnation, etc. Sometimes, in order to "survive", the mind does incredible and sometimes insane things. To survive, the mind can destroy the body, or it can strengthen it. Depends on how strong the mind is supported by the concept of the body. If, for example, the concept of one's own coolness is more weighty for the mind, the mind is willing to risk the health of the body in order to maintain it. If the concept of a healthy body is a weighty support for the mind, a person begins to take care of his health. The theme of such illusions on progressman.ru is one of the main ones.
In a dispute, the mind proves not at all the truth, but its vitality, correctness and appropriateness. The positions of the mind are parts of its "body." In an argument, the mind is simply trying to survive. Even if the mind is flawed, admitting one's inferiority for him is tantamount to suicide. The mind longs for agreement and accepts any of its positions for the truth, because they are the "truth" for his vitality. The "consonance" of close people is a deep mutual strengthening of their own positions of their minds. If your mind likes this article, this is just another support of the mind, which crawls to the surface to exalt in its vitality, which this text justifies. If the article threatens any important support of the mind, the mind will begin to defend itself with all its might, including misunderstanding and disapproval, up to irritation and anger. And this is a completely normal, natural process. Any worldviewin this sense, it is a palace consisting of subjective, temporary, illusory supports. To convince a materialist, for example, that there is life after the death of the body is tantamount to the threat of reprisal against his personality, which is largely based on his materialistic worldview. The mind likes everything that allows it to maintain its support. The mind longs for agreement and approval in order to maintain its illusions. Just reading and enjoying the "new" knowledge is another strengthening of these illusions. And this is a completely normal, natural process.which allows him to maintain his footing. The mind longs for agreement and approval in order to maintain its illusions. Just reading and enjoying the "new" knowledge is another strengthening of these illusions. And this is a completely normal, natural process.which allows him to maintain his footing. The mind longs for agreement and approval in order to maintain its illusions. Just reading and enjoying the "new" knowledge is another strengthening of these illusions. And this is a completely normal, natural process.