This is the second article (the first one here), with the help of which I am going to formulate the initial prerequisites of my system of self-development and recommend it to be read before embarking on practical articles.
Here I will try to determine the purpose of the mind in the formation of man and in his self-development. I will also answer the question “why is it so important to live with the mind?” That is, to control feelings, instincts and desires, and not allow them to lead you away from your life course. For the first time I introduce here the concept of awareness (a separate article has already been devoted to it). I will talk about why awareness needs to be developed (and whether at all) and I will give a couple of examples from the field of cinema.
At the very end of the article I will take you to the basic idea and principle of my system of self-development.
The origin of the mind. His role in nature.
I do not get tired of repeating that the purpose of my site is to provide here such information that will help you become happier, more confident and harmonious. I do not preach any doctrine, the purpose of which is to spread some knowledge for the sake of this knowledge itself. I do not want you to just soak up, agree and leave. All my principles of self-development are aimed at achieving a practical, factual and “tangible” result for you and others.
Terms like mind, mindfulness are not a disguise of my ignorance. I do not fill them with a hazy and obscure sense only so that, hiding behind them, shove you another homegrown teaching about a person and convey to you my understanding of the meaning of life. I am in a state of utmost clarity regarding the role of mind and awareness in your self-development. I am ready to answer the question why the development of these human categories is of such a fundamental nature and determines your happiness and your inner freedom. About this and talk. But all in order ...
Although the site is devoted to practice, I consider it necessary to give the theory, the beliefs that underlie my system of self-development. Although practice is more important and necessary, but I believe that the reader should know what opinions and judgments underlie my practical recommendations. Perhaps he would not like these judgments?
By virtue of my modest knowledge, I may be inaccurate in my judgments about the reasons for the emergence of the mind, but this is not so important for our goal (but I will be happy to discuss this topic and supplement my scanty knowledge).
It must have been a long time ago that our distant ancestors appeared as a reaction to harsh environmental conditions. In any case, the emergence of some reasonable regulator of human activity in addition to the purely instinctive animal seems to me to be some kind of evolutionary decision, which was formed under the influence of external factors (the environment).
In those days, the mind gave man the ability to resist alien and hostile nature: making tools, trapping the beast with cunning using concerted, team actions, organizing communities, learning, sharing with each other accumulated experience and transmitting it over the centuries through generations. People had neither tenacious claws, nor powerful canines, and in agility they were inferior to predators, but they became smarter and this allowed them to take their place in nature.
Reason became the root cause of progress, civilization, the accumulation of knowledge about the universe and man. Reason is the ability to think, analyze, invent, respond flexibly to changes in the external environment and adapt to them.
(If you watched the gorgeous Stanley Kubrick Space Odyssey 2001, then you probably remember what a “marginal” position in the realm of nature was a man at the dawn of his appearance, according to this picture. Leaning Pithecanthropes, next to whom the “food” freely walks then tapirs or pigs. It would seem, go and take, feed the family, but there are no tools and intelligence that would allow these tools to be made. The poor proto-man constantly becomes the prey of the predator cheetah. How things change when you send kov from space, which found its embodiment in the black monolith, the beginnings of the mind appear in Pithecanthropus! The next tribe is chased away and a full-fledged hunt begins.
Mind and instincts
Unlike instincts, which act blindly, as a reaction to an external irritant and do not require the participation of consciousness (for example, they saw a bear in the forest: they were frightened, experienced a surge of strength and a bullet rushed away, that is urine), your mind is much more flexible tool. It can contain all the different schemes of interaction with the environment, constantly make changes to them through learning and thinking, or inventing new schemes. Reason is designed to restrain instincts and correct their manifestation. Without it, we would be just a species that only knows what to multiply, eat and sleep. There would be no question of any conscious activity.
But how strong is our ability to curb instincts and secret desires? To what extent is "reasonable man" still intelligent? There are many different opinions on this score: some even think that a person is not much different from an animal in his behavior and always follows instincts, only those who, as they appear, are “refracted” (sublimated) in higher areas of the psyche and as a result acquire a perverted and original form. About this further ...
Mind and Feelings in Psychoanalysis
If my memory serves me, then classical psychoanalysis in the person of Freud believes that a person is the scene of the confrontation of two uncontrollable elements. Consciousness and Unconscious. Mind and Instincts. I even recall a comparison in which an infuriated bull (Instincts) and his rider (Consciousness) appear. From such a "union" neither the rider nor the bull is particularly comfortable.
The bull behaves as he wants, and the one who sits on it, trying to pacify him even more, only makes him angry. In accordance with the teachings of psychoanalysis, it turns out that there is a certain area of the unconscious (instincts) that is difficult to control consciousness and we can only put up with this state of affairs and be puppets of our instincts in a vain attempt to tame them.
Such a view of things is not much better than a religious one, in which the world is an eternal confrontation between good and evil, and a person becomes an arena of confrontation between the divine and satanic principles ... Psychoanalysis says that people are born for eternal inner struggle and harmony is an unattainable thing for them. You want you do not want, and instincts take their own.
Thus, any responsibility is written off a person: after all, how can these warring forces fight each other among themselves, this does not particularly depend on us. Such a concept, in my opinion, is as erroneous as it is dangerous. I strongly disagree with this. A little further explain why.
Ego and instincts
Similar views, sometimes, confesses modern man. He believes that some of his bad qualities, destructive and destructive passions and desires have tremendous power and it is pointless to fight them, because, ultimately, they will still take over him. Thus he capitulates without even attempting to fight.
Now I come to the answer to the question - why do we need to live with the mind
The one who is accustomed to follow in the wake of his instinctive desires, the will is weakened and the mind is dulled. He is increasingly beginning to depend on the passions seething inside, ceases to be guided by reason and common sense, as it is governed by instincts and ego.
By instincts, I mean fear, sex, the need for food, etc. The ego is common human vices like pride, vanity, painful vanity, inner anxiety, timidity and indecision. These are the things that control human behavior and limit its freedom. The more the mind control over our inner world weakens, the stronger we are subject to instincts and the ego, the more we obey, respectively, we lose control of ourselves, but we become more susceptible to external control.
For example, a person with a painful pride, an arrogance, anger, no longer belongs to himself, as his passions swallowed him up. Knowing his weak points, they can be easily controlled, just need to know where to push. Prone to pride, he will blindly lead to any flattery, the sophistication of which must be proportional to the sophistication of his mind in order to achieve the desired effect. He is no longer master of himself: in this case his pride decides for him. Similarly, with other passions, such as fears, bad habits, anger, painful nature, etc.
(Again an example from the cinema: A remarkable illustration of this principle is presented in the Guy Ritchie film - Revolver. In the film, the plot is tied in such a way that the interests of lonely Jake Green and the criminal boss, Macy, collide. Macy plays on his vanity and the greediness that brings Green’s victory over Macs at the end of the film. Green himself is also the target of fears and greed that appear in the plot in a personalized form, in the form of Green’s alter-ego, but the main single character does not give in to them, t How do you know that they are not part of him and, in the end, Green emerges victorious from this fight with passions, unlike Maki. Green won a victory over his vices and this helped him to defeat Maki, who could not resist the inner element, in consequence of which, he lost. This section of the film you can see at the end of my article how to get rid of panic attacks.
I do not undertake to evaluate the artistic features of this film, but this part of the narrative is an ideal illustration of my thoughts (since the film is not only about this, I single out only its specific component), nothing so accurately reflects my beliefs about the nature of the opposition of secret desires and intelligence . And, in my opinion, in this confrontation the victory of reason over blind feelings is possible.)
Is a compromise between Mind and Instinct possible?
If we go back to the allegory about the bull and the rider, then I am sure that the harmonious neighborhood of the fierce beast and the upright erect descendant of the monkey is even possible. Simply, the bull needs to be given its own territory, which will be securely enclosed with a fence so that it does not escape. And the man lives in his house, not far from the pasture of the bull.
Both live side by side, both the one and the other on their part, and each receives some bonuses from a neighbor. The bull impregnates the cows and brings the offspring in the form of calves to a person, and the man takes care of the bull, feeds him, fertilizes his pasture. One does not do without the other; these two are connected in close cooperation and mutual assistance.
The main thing is not to let the bull over the fence, and for this you need to bring it up and train it.
I am sure that, firstly, harmony between mind and feelings is possible, secondly, instincts are amenable to correction and modernization with the help of our mind. The more we can control the instincts, the more we are human and less animal. Only such harmony is not acquired from birth, for this you need a lot of work on yourself to become a man. And I will talk about this in other articles.
In what place should be the border between the senses and the mind
Instincts must exist and act in the place that is allotted to them. Since they have repeatedly saved the life of a person, it is necessary that their mechanism be started when necessary. Most of the materials on this site will be devoted to how to achieve this.
For example, in case of danger, fear signals it and that’s great. The body gives off a lot of energy and, fleeing from a wild beast in the forest, you yourself do not notice how you find yourself high up in a tree, because fear made you react instantly and saved your life. But it is not necessary to allow this ancient instinct to break out from the depths of the unconscious and occupy other areas of our psyche.
Being in them, it can manifest itself in the most perverted forms. For example, in the form of all kinds of social fears: anxiety in front of people, in front of life difficulties, in front of relationships, in front of the future, in front of the opposite sex. If the biological mechanism that catapults us high on a tree branch saves our lives, then another, social or psychological fear is only an obstacle to the realization of our life plan, our goals and our development.
A person who is afraid of difficulties will never achieve anything. He will live with his fear. Anyone who is afraid of relationships will die lonely. One of the key tasks of the mind in the context of self-development is to curb and control the ego and instincts, tame the wild beast inside and make it an ally. And also to pacify the Ego: to act contrary to the vagaries of pride, the whims of pride, not to reckon with passions and fleeting emotions, but confidently, plot your life course and move on it.
Why should one hold back instincts and ego?
If you do not chase the exact wording and talk about the concept of mindfulness, then mindfulness implies autonomy of mind, its independence from the senses. This is the ability for a detached, sober analysis of what is happening inside you, of what motivations you lead, and why you are acting in this way and not otherwise. Mindfulness rewards you with the ability to separate the wheat from the chaff: draw a line between authentic goals that lead you forward and minute impulses, emotions that pull you backwards or sideways.
Your life project is a beacon, the light of which is weakly dreamed somewhere far away. And the weaknesses and minute impulses generated by the Ego - the attractive siren songs that lure you, lead you astray. And now you are moving in another direction. And the whole crew, stupefied by the voice of mythical creatures, lost his mind and rushes overboard. You, as the captain, no longer control the team!
Emotions, desires and passions that you do not control, instill chaos in you, stupefy become the causes of confusion, which causes ill-considered actions about which you then regret. And if you live with the mind, you will gain freedom from the manifestations of the Ego, become the master of yourself. There is an incomparable feeling of control over what is happening inside.
It is much better than feeling like a puppet of your desires. And even worse when following the Ego becomes a habit. You begin to perceive it as a part of yourself, your personality, as something permanent that will stay with you forever. This is the biggest mistake that could be here:
His best layout was that he made you believe that he was you.
x / f Revolver
The basic principle and concept of self-development
We have come to the main principle of my system of self-development. Self-development is the development of the mind and will, the ability to control and direct your thoughts and curb your body, your animal essence. This is a process aimed at becoming a human being as a Man of Reasonable, and not as an intelligent mammal. Self-development is an evolution on the scale of an individual. The mind strives for harmony and orderliness, therefore, the path of self-development is the path to balance and happiness!
Self-development should begin with the understanding that we, in our initial form, from birth do not represent the crown of perfection. But, nevertheless, this perfection is achievable through the application of knowledge and work on oneself.
