“We like to think of our decisions as willful acts, but that may be an illusion. Many decisions may be much more directly and automatically driven by what our brain is sensing,” says Maurizio Corbetta, M.D., the Norman J. Stupp Professor of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. (Tosoni A, Galati G, Romani GL, Corbetta M. Sensory-motor mechanisms in human parietal cortex underlie arbitrary visual decisions. Nature Neuroscience, advance online publication on Nov. 9.)
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Mark Twain, in his essay “What Is Man?” argues that humans do not command their minds or the opinions they form. “You did not form that [opinion],” a speaker identified as “old man” says in the essay. “Your [mental] machinery did it for you – automatically and instantly, without reflection or the need of it.”
I hear a lot about “free will” and I often wonder just how “free” it is. Further, I wonder, when you make a choice, how much of your “higher” mental faculty was involved in its making compared to how much animal instinct was involved? I suggest that most of the time our animal brain is in charge – and that choices made are made based on the “basest” part of us – the part we call the animal part.
I know we don’t like to hear that we are “no better than the beast” but, hey – if the shoe fits…
When you come to understand and appreciate your animal side, you can harness it for useful work – just as you would a horse or mule. Knowing the language of animals helps, too, in communicating effectively with this part of your self. Your animal self is essential to your survival – you NEED it. It’s just that you don’t have to be in its service yourself – you can direct it as you would if you were the rider on a horse.
I’ve addressed this before and probably will again – you are an animal – a life form within the environment we call earth – get used to the idea – it’s the truth. Unique among animals on earth, humans can think in abstractions, appreciate the intricacies and mysteries of physics and chemistry, explore beyond earthly environs, appreciate creativity and art, and possess the ability to destroy all life on the planet – or extend it beyond earth.
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Our choices are already made – by our animal selves – that thinks in terms of threat vs benefit and pleasure vs pain. There is thought beyond these parameters – to get there, however, requires one to transcend the need for survival. And that’s where it gets tricky – because to explore beyond threat vs benefit and pleasure vs pain might require one to put at risk all they treasure in life – including life itself – and likely lose it in the process (thus the risk).
I suggest we embrace our animal selves – that we honor it and embrace it as we would a treasured pet – rather than believing that our animal self (based on threat/benefit, pleasure/pain) is our higher self. What would happen if we were to put our rational, logical, higher mental orders to work doing more than the simple chore of seeing to the survival needs and desires of our animal selves?
What is beyond money and power? Influence and attraction? Fear and doubt? Addiction? Compulsion? Greed, control, pride, envy, and lust? What is beyond threat/benefit and pleasure/pain? What is the next step in human evolution if not that which is beyond mere survival of the species?
When man stepped onto the surface of the moon for the first time, we extended our life form onto another celestial body – what will that mean for the universe beyond? THAT will be a choice I hope we’ll make using our higher mind rather than our animal minds.