The Best Kept Secret Everyone Seems To Know – Part 2 Of 2

One Way to Wisdom

An excellent way to start is to try understanding things from the perspective of others. Questions we could ask and answers we would expect in reply. Of course many of us do this already so the exercise will be somewhat familiar.

Usually we think about friends, family, and people we interact with on a regular basis. Their thinking will be easier to determine because of long standing familiarity. However, even though our intuition will be more accurate working with something familiar, there is actually much more to be gained from exploration inspired by the unfamiliar. Fresh insights evolve from inspiration derived by using our imagination to converse with people we dont know at all, at least not on intimate terms. For that matter why restrict our exercise of intuition and imagination to conversation with people?

As evidenced by the many extraordinary examples of animation - animals, insects, or even inanimate objects can be endowed with robust personality and discerning their unique opinions can provide insights far beyond the expected. In addition to an endless plethora of characters we can also imagine these interactions taking place in any kind of environment at any scale, from the microscopic to the macroscopic and everything in between.

It does not matter if our imagination produces accurate determinations about the thinking of others. What matters is that the exercise allows us to examine our own thinking from a different point of view. By far the most important consideration when performing these exercises is to never loose awareness that it is our imagination creating a fantasy.

Imagination is inspired by our intuition extrapolating what we think we know about someone elses thinking, but it is still intuitive imagination at play. Awareness is especially important when imagining interactions with someone you know. When communicating with someone (or some thing) in your imagination it is critical to never loose sight of the fact that the other side of the conversation is still you. Insights derived from these exercises will reveal a great deal about your own thinking, but virtually nothing of fact about theirs.

In loosing self-awareness of our imagination we risk the danger of committing fantasies to memory and later accidently confusing them with reality. False memories skew our perceptions of others along with our perceptions of how others perceive us.

Beware the Trap

Many will think it self evident, even laughably obvious, that one can always tell the difference between imagined fantasy and authentic reality. But therein lays a dangerous folly of human psychology many of us succumb to without ever realizing.

As we encounter things we don't understand we tend to rely on assumption to fill in the blanks. Where do these assumptions come from? You guessed it, assumptions are generated by our intuition and imagination, maybe with a dash of actual knowledge blended into the mix just to add enough flavor to make them believable. Left to simmer for a while without challenge or research and we have a savory dish of comfort with the convincing flavor of fact, or at least close enough to ignore the difference.

Making assumptions is so much easier than sourcing and verifying facts. We humans are lazy creatures of habit and making assumptions is an easy habit to acquire. Like a narcotic, the pleasant gratification we derive from those first few assumptions establishes a viable method of fulfilling a need. Fulfillment of need develops into a habit, which soon transitions to a comfortable addiction that alters our behavior the more we indulge. And true to addiction, the need itself grows in proportion with our ability to satisfy the need.

Over time our capacity of sound judgment diminishes while we compile an extensive inventory of cascading assumptions to draw from. In the process, what we come to believe in as rational fact grows into belief of irrational fiction. Eventually we become so comfortable and accustomed with our assumptions that what we come to perceive as reality is actually a life forever lived in self-fabricated fantasy. We may think this lamentable condition must be a rare exception, but the grim truth is that we ALL suffer from this malady; the only difference between us is one of degree.

Im reluctant to call this stupidity but - We may well be getting closer to resolving our question than any of us would care to admit. How did we come to this state of affairs, and if true, what can be done to repair the damage and find our way free of false perception?

Tools of Enlightenment

The brain is an organ that enables thinking in the same way muscles are organs that enable movement. These organs are worthless without the driving force that brings them to life. The driving force that makes all things possible, including that of life itself, is personified as the power of thought. In spite of the many assumptions made throughout history to the contrary, the plain truth is that neither the rigors of science nor the blind faith of religion has adequately explained this miraculous phenomenon. But even though we don't know exactly what this power is, we do know something about its behavior, and so we can learn how to use it to significant advantage.

The brain develops its formidable capabilities through a built-in property called Neuroplasticity. Muscles respond to physical forces. The brain's Neuroplasticity, at least the part of the brain that endows our mental faculties, responds exclusively to the forces of thought constantly emanating from the mind. Ego, emotion, creativity, logic, intuition, imagination, all faculties of the mind are processes of thinking that are always in play, every single hour of every day. Everything that takes place in the mind, whether real or imagined, affects the brain in basically the same way.

Neuroplasticity does not know the difference between fantasy and reality, it simply responds to our force of thought. The act of thinking itself (or lack thereof) stimulates Neuroplasticity to restructure the brain in an ongoing effort to maintain balance with the forces of thought acting upon it. Essentially what this means is that however we apply our force of thinking, the brain responds by optimizing its internal electrochemical mechanisms in a precise and articulate manner to become better at channeling the forces generated by the mind.

Muscles become stronger when exercised. Neuroplasticity mimics this behavior in the brain. For example: using our imagination stimulates Neuroplasticity to enhance the brain's ability to channel imagination, which in turn improves our ability to utilize our imagination. This perpetual cycle of use and improvement is active from our birth and continues until our death. Neuroplasticity responds to the full spectrum of mental activity by enhancing whatever mental faculties we use, and always in proportion to how vigorously we use them.

Neuroplasticity is a built-in response mechanism that does not significantly diminish with age. Developing rigid patterns of thinking is not a physical manifestation of aging; it is entirely a matter of willful choice. Whether we realize it or not, we always have complete control, and we are always free to exercise our control. Mental evolution can only take place in a favorably willing environment.

Enemies at the Gate

The mental faculties we do not use become weaker and overshadowed by those we do use. This behavior is particularly relevant in context of the media saturated culture of today. Of the many forms of media at play in the modern world, television is probably the worst offender, especially considering how our children grow up watching.

We sit and we watch like a one-way receiver tuned to the channel of our chosen broadcast, and putting aside for a moment the content of what we watch, the critical issue is that the thinking part has already been done for us. The time we spend absorbing pre-designed information robs us of the time we could spend designing our own. A substantial proportion of mass media in effect trains us not to THINK at all, or at least not about anything worth thinking about. What kind of a brain does Neuroplasticity build in response to engaging in this mindless activity?

Neuroplasticity always responds by optimizing the brain's ability to support whatever activity the mind engages in. Activities like watching television optimizes the brain's capability to enter a passive vegetative state to assimilate information as it's presented. The information is presented complete and pre-formatted deliberately to unburden the mind from any need of active participation.
Approximately one third of broadcast content consists of advertisements, which are reinforced by the barrage of passive advertising that literally fills our world. Experts in content creation, working from decades of extensive research into human psychology, are paid billions of dollars to influence, manipulate, and outright control our thinking behaviors, and all to serve a corporate agenda that satisfies their best interests, not ours.

We are led to believe that advertising is a necessary evil to finance delivery of entertainment. But let's never forget that corporate dollars drive the whole system. Never think for a moment that the remaining two thirds are not leveraged to compliment their corporate agenda. Like a cruel joke told at our expense, all media broadcast industries openly refer to their output signal as Programming.

Remember that Neuroplasticity does not know the difference between fantasy and reality. The quality of our critical thinking and decision making depends on the information stored in the brain's memory. If this information was absorbed while the mind was asleep or otherwise engaged, then what forms the basis of our thoughts, opinions, and decisions? Shouldn't we be actually living and learning for ourselves instead of blindly adopting a corporate skewed vision of life?

Imagine a world populated by billions of people, never realizing their minds are not totally their own, and all under control of a dominating few with a diabolical agenda born of corporate self interest. No doubt the stuff of some great science fiction. But wait a minute - We don't have to imagine this fantastic scenario - We are in fact already living it.

Is human stupidity responsible for bringing about this state of affairs? Our initial question is starting to take on a frightening new dimension. But we're not finished yet.

It Starts at the Beginning

No exploration of human stupidity would be compete without a moment of contemplation about our systems of education. We spend our significant formative years participating in this system which shapes our minds in preparation for the rigors of life beyond. Presumably the intent of education is to transform us from a state of stupidity to a state of intelligence. Or is it from a state of ignorance to a state of knowledge? Either way, the most valuable attribute of WISDOM has become an elusive byproduct, acquired more by accident rather than a deliberate outcome of educational training.

All systems are designed to accept some kind of input and process that input with the aim of producing some kind of output. The utopian system is one that accepts the widest range of input, and produces the highest quality output, within a process optimized for maximum efficiency.

Formal education has been conceived as a system producing uniform parts to be integrated into the massive collective of human machines that make up the mechanics of civilization. If an individual part goes bad for some reason there is always another to seamlessly takes its place.

Creativity could be seen as a disadvantage, for how can one conceive a functional machine were the individual parts had creative minds of their own? The performance of a single part could not be relied upon if one cannot predict with certainty how that part will function.

Production of machine parts may be the ultimate in mechanical efficiency, but is it consistent with our true human nature which embodies the rigid disciplines of logic and the imaginative freedom of creativity in equal measure? Wouldnt we be much better off if the education system concentrated its efforts on producing genius? If genius represents the very best we can be, then formal education must be a miserable failure, considering how genius is such a rare commodity.

If the individual parts were imbued with genius, we could envision a system were reliable machines designed themselves organically in a balanced response to fulfilling societies true needs.

The Truth of Stupidity

Truth is a universal constant of nature that could never be construed as a manifestation of stupidity. Truth is simply the conscience realization of authentic reality. The pursuit of truth is the most noble endeavor of mankind and AWARENESS is the key that opens the doorway to truth.

Awareness of our own ego opens our perception of reality far beyond the limits imposed by the prejudice of our personal preferences, and keeps our penchant for assumption at bay with a new preference for seeking the truth.

Awareness of the brain's Neuroplastic behavior gives us the tools to raise our mental faculties to Olympian levels. Awareness of the full potential of our gift of creativity allows us to utilize our imagination for purposes far beyond that of simple fantasy.

Awareness of the true intent of media advertising nullifies its effect on the psyche. Awareness reveals the intentions of anyone or anything that penetrates our sphere of perception. Awareness also empowers us to exert our own influence over our world to battle all forms of evil that seek domination, and help raise the awareness of others in the process.

Awareness that we are the Supreme Being of our inner universe leads us to realize the true nature of our existence. Imagine a world with billions of people working together in seamless harmonized freewheeling synergy, just like the very forces of nature itself. This is the true nature of our destiny.

Awareness of our seemingly natural aptitude and propensity to recognize the most universally acknowledged attribute of mankind offers us the greatest opportunity to expose the truth. The perception of stupidity can only take place in contrast against the background of a more profound reality. Recognizing stupidity is therefore a golden opportunity to nurture our awareness of our own perceptions. Simply by contemplating our shallow perceptions of stupidity we can begin to see beyond and reveal the elusive depths of true reality.

By: Milo Bono

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