I have tried to consolidate a bunch of ideas from my readings about human psychology for the past few months in this blog. Just reading about our mind is most fascinating or should I say mind boggling. I will quickly get into summarizing the key take aways of my readings from my most favourite book "the happiness hypothesis" and few other books about Freud and some beliefs from Hinduism.
The brain first started forming about 600 million years ago and has proliferated ever since. Brains are adaptive because they integrate information from various pats of the animals body to respond quickly and automatically to threats and opportunities. About 3 million years ago earth was full of animals and birds which could navigate using star positions. About 2 million years ago brains became bigger and 40 000 years ago formed the most remarkable human minds. This was the time language reasoning and planning arrived. The automatic processes(ability to walk, motor skills) have been around for longer and are perfect since they had more time to evolve but the controlled processes(reasoning and planning) are still imperfect. In short the mind according to Jonathan Haidt can be divided into two parts the elephant(automatic processes) and the rider (controlled processes).The elephant is the unconscious which includes gut feelings, visceral reactions and intuitions and the rider is the super ego which controls the morality. Contrary to what we think, it is the elephant part of our mind which controls the rider. It is the elephant which decides the good and bad, gut feelings and intuitions. The rider just creates arguments to justify the elephants logic. In moral arguments the rider goes beyond being just an advisor it acts as a lawyer defending the elephant. This metaphor to me is extraordinarily useful personally. The best way to improve ourselves is to tame the unconscious and the best way to do it is to analyse and look at our mind using the elephant and rider frameworks. The east and west have their own philosophies when it come to the nature of the mind and how to control it.
THE MIND AS SEEN BY THE WEST
Freud proposed that the human psyche could be divided into three parts: Id, ego and super-ego.
The id: it is the completely unconscious, impulsive, childlike portion of the psyche that operates on the "pleasure principle" and is the source of basic impulses and drives; it seeks immediate pleasure and gratification
The super-ego: it is the moral component of the psyche, which takes into account no special circumstances in which the morally right thing may not be right for a given situation.
The rational ego: it attempts to exact a balance between the impractical hedonism of the id and the equally impractical moralism of the super-ego; it is the part of the psyche that is usually reflected most directly in a person's actions. When overburdened or threatened by its tasks, it may employ defence mechanisms including denial repression, undoing, rationalization, repression, and displacement.
Freud compared the relationship between the ego and the id to that between a charioteer and his horses: the horses provide the energy and drive, while the charioteer provides direction.
western methods of controlling the mind:
Historically, Western psychology has directed itself to the study of the psyche or mind as a clinical entity, whereas Eastern cultures have not categorized mind and matter, soul and body, in the same way as the Western. If we look deeply into such ways of life as Buddhism and Taoism, Vedanta and Yoga, we do not find either philosophy or religion as these are understood in the West. We find something more nearly resembling psychotherapy that psychotherapy and the ways of liberation have common ground.
Psychoanalytic - This was the first practice to be called a psychotherapy. It encourages the verbalization of all the patient's thoughts, including fantasies, and dreams, from which the analyst formulates the nature of the unconscious conflicts which are causing the patient's symptoms and character problems.
Cognitive behavioural- Generally seeks to identify maladaptive cognition, appraisal, beliefs and reactions with the aim of influencing destructive negative emotions and problematic dysfunctional behaviours.
Existential- Based on the existential belief that human beings are alone in the world. This isolation leads to feelings of meaninglessness, which can be overcome only by creating one's own values and meanings
THE MIND AS SEEN BY ORIENTAL BELIEFS
Hinduism has identified the mind to be comprising of four levels of consciousness
Ahamkara (ego) – identifies the Atman(self) with the body as 'I'
buddhi (intellect) – controls decision making
Manas (mind) – controls sankalpa (will or resolution)
Chitta (memory) – deals with remembering and forgetting
eastern methods of controlling the mind:
We must start from the well-recognized fact that in all the ways of liberation, Buddhism, Vedanta, Yoga, and Taoism the method involves some form of meditation which may take the form of concentrated attention upon some particular object, problem, or aspect of consciousness, or simply of the relaxed and detached observation of whatever comes to mind. It may take the form of trying to suppress all verbal thinking, or the form of a dialectic in which the most rigorous is carried to its full conclusions. It may be an attempt to be directly aware of the perceiving self, or it may follow out the idea that the self is not anything that can be known, not the body, not the sensations, not the thoughts, not even consciousness. In some instances the student is simply asked to find out, exhaustively and relentlessly, why he wants liberation, or who it is that wants to be liberated. Methods vary not only among the differing schools and teachers, but also in accordance with the needs and temperaments of their disciples.
Zen meditation
Central to Zen-practice is meditation. The Zen tradition holds that in meditation practice, notions of doctrine and teachings necessitate the creation of various notions and that obscure the transcendent wisdom of each being's Buddha-nature. This process of rediscovery goes under various terms such as "introspection", "a backward step", "turning-about" or "turning the eye inward".
Observing the breath:
During sitting meditation, practitioners usually assume a position such as the lotus position, half-lotus, Burmese, or postures, using the. To regulate the mind, awareness is directed towards counting or watching the breath or put in the energy centre below the navel. Often, a square or round cushion placed on a padded mat is used to sit on; in some other cases, a chair may be used. This practice may simply be called sitting dhyana.
Observing the mind:In the Soto school of Zen, meditation with no objects, anchors, or content, is the primary form of practice. The meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference.
Intensive group meditation:Zen traditions include periods of intensive group meditation in a monastery. While the daily routine in the monastery may require monks to meditate for several hours each day, during this intensive period they devote themselves almost exclusively to the practice of sitting meditation.
In my opinion the idea of both the systems is the emphasis on introspection which helps us to identify the ego and train and control it. The theoretical frameworks are amazing but the real catch lies in practicing what we read.
The brain first started forming about 600 million years ago and has proliferated ever since. Brains are adaptive because they integrate information from various pats of the animals body to respond quickly and automatically to threats and opportunities. About 3 million years ago earth was full of animals and birds which could navigate using star positions. About 2 million years ago brains became bigger and 40 000 years ago formed the most remarkable human minds. This was the time language reasoning and planning arrived. The automatic processes(ability to walk, motor skills) have been around for longer and are perfect since they had more time to evolve but the controlled processes(reasoning and planning) are still imperfect. In short the mind according to Jonathan Haidt can be divided into two parts the elephant(automatic processes) and the rider (controlled processes).The elephant is the unconscious which includes gut feelings, visceral reactions and intuitions and the rider is the super ego which controls the morality. Contrary to what we think, it is the elephant part of our mind which controls the rider. It is the elephant which decides the good and bad, gut feelings and intuitions. The rider just creates arguments to justify the elephants logic. In moral arguments the rider goes beyond being just an advisor it acts as a lawyer defending the elephant. This metaphor to me is extraordinarily useful personally. The best way to improve ourselves is to tame the unconscious and the best way to do it is to analyse and look at our mind using the elephant and rider frameworks. The east and west have their own philosophies when it come to the nature of the mind and how to control it.
THE MIND AS SEEN BY THE WEST
Freud proposed that the human psyche could be divided into three parts: Id, ego and super-ego.
The id: it is the completely unconscious, impulsive, childlike portion of the psyche that operates on the "pleasure principle" and is the source of basic impulses and drives; it seeks immediate pleasure and gratification
The super-ego: it is the moral component of the psyche, which takes into account no special circumstances in which the morally right thing may not be right for a given situation.
The rational ego: it attempts to exact a balance between the impractical hedonism of the id and the equally impractical moralism of the super-ego; it is the part of the psyche that is usually reflected most directly in a person's actions. When overburdened or threatened by its tasks, it may employ defence mechanisms including denial repression, undoing, rationalization, repression, and displacement.
Freud compared the relationship between the ego and the id to that between a charioteer and his horses: the horses provide the energy and drive, while the charioteer provides direction.
western methods of controlling the mind:
Historically, Western psychology has directed itself to the study of the psyche or mind as a clinical entity, whereas Eastern cultures have not categorized mind and matter, soul and body, in the same way as the Western. If we look deeply into such ways of life as Buddhism and Taoism, Vedanta and Yoga, we do not find either philosophy or religion as these are understood in the West. We find something more nearly resembling psychotherapy that psychotherapy and the ways of liberation have common ground.
Psychoanalytic - This was the first practice to be called a psychotherapy. It encourages the verbalization of all the patient's thoughts, including fantasies, and dreams, from which the analyst formulates the nature of the unconscious conflicts which are causing the patient's symptoms and character problems.
Cognitive behavioural- Generally seeks to identify maladaptive cognition, appraisal, beliefs and reactions with the aim of influencing destructive negative emotions and problematic dysfunctional behaviours.
Existential- Based on the existential belief that human beings are alone in the world. This isolation leads to feelings of meaninglessness, which can be overcome only by creating one's own values and meanings
THE MIND AS SEEN BY ORIENTAL BELIEFS
Hinduism has identified the mind to be comprising of four levels of consciousness
Ahamkara (ego) – identifies the Atman(self) with the body as 'I'
buddhi (intellect) – controls decision making
Manas (mind) – controls sankalpa (will or resolution)
Chitta (memory) – deals with remembering and forgetting
eastern methods of controlling the mind:
We must start from the well-recognized fact that in all the ways of liberation, Buddhism, Vedanta, Yoga, and Taoism the method involves some form of meditation which may take the form of concentrated attention upon some particular object, problem, or aspect of consciousness, or simply of the relaxed and detached observation of whatever comes to mind. It may take the form of trying to suppress all verbal thinking, or the form of a dialectic in which the most rigorous is carried to its full conclusions. It may be an attempt to be directly aware of the perceiving self, or it may follow out the idea that the self is not anything that can be known, not the body, not the sensations, not the thoughts, not even consciousness. In some instances the student is simply asked to find out, exhaustively and relentlessly, why he wants liberation, or who it is that wants to be liberated. Methods vary not only among the differing schools and teachers, but also in accordance with the needs and temperaments of their disciples.
Zen meditation
Central to Zen-practice is meditation. The Zen tradition holds that in meditation practice, notions of doctrine and teachings necessitate the creation of various notions and that obscure the transcendent wisdom of each being's Buddha-nature. This process of rediscovery goes under various terms such as "introspection", "a backward step", "turning-about" or "turning the eye inward".
Observing the breath:
During sitting meditation, practitioners usually assume a position such as the lotus position, half-lotus, Burmese, or postures, using the. To regulate the mind, awareness is directed towards counting or watching the breath or put in the energy centre below the navel. Often, a square or round cushion placed on a padded mat is used to sit on; in some other cases, a chair may be used. This practice may simply be called sitting dhyana.
Observing the mind:In the Soto school of Zen, meditation with no objects, anchors, or content, is the primary form of practice. The meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference.
Intensive group meditation:Zen traditions include periods of intensive group meditation in a monastery. While the daily routine in the monastery may require monks to meditate for several hours each day, during this intensive period they devote themselves almost exclusively to the practice of sitting meditation.
In my opinion the idea of both the systems is the emphasis on introspection which helps us to identify the ego and train and control it. The theoretical frameworks are amazing but the real catch lies in practicing what we read.
