1. How the Mind Works

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

First, the context of these posts can be had by reading The God Game posts, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 Part 4 (although, perhaps not immediately apparent).

Also, I want to acknowledge Lou Tice and The Pacific Institute for contributing to my understanding of such things as the Reticular Activating System and its psychological counterparts. If you want a deep understanding of this and other goal-setting topics, fly to Seattle and take their seminars. They are the real deal.

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I claimed in The God Game, Part 3 that there is evidence that the mind possesses the ability to "partition reality."

We all seem to think that we perceive the "truth" every day all around us. But actually, we don't. We only perceive truth as we believe it to be. And as I will point out, we have little awareness of how what we believe to be the truth is highly filtered.

Here's a quick example, which you may have already been exposed to in a psychology class. Read the following sentence one time:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT
OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY
COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE
OF MANY YEARS OF EXPERTS.

Good. Now, read it again, only once, and count the number of letter F's in the sentence. I'll wait for you.

If you are like most people, you counted three F's in that sentence, right? In Finished, Files, and Scientific.

Would you believe me when I tell you there are seven F's in that sentence? Go back and find them. I'll wait.

This is no trick. There are seven F's. Isn't it strange that you can be looking directly at something, be told something is there, and not see it? Look again.

If you still only see three F's then my point has been made. The other four F's are in the four OF's in the sentence.

Ahhh, that's better. Strange, isn't it?

My guess is that since we read the F in the word 'OF' as a 'V', somehow our mind blinds us to them as F's. The concept gets in the way of the truth. It creates a kind of blind spot. The mind is a very interesting thing. Have you ever thought about how the mind must filter our environment for us? For our own good?

You had no idea that your brain had placed a kind of filter on your perception. You thought you were seeing the absolute truth. You weren't, and you had no idea that you possessed such a blind spot. Even when told directly that it was there. Doesn't it make you wonder what other blind spots you have?

You may ask, "What difference does it make? If they're blind spots that I don't know I have, so what? How can I know, since I'm blind to the blind spots?"

Exactly.

The mind possesses a remarkable filtering system. If it didn't, you'd go crazy. Think of all the information coming in through all your senses. The sights, the sounds, the tactile sensations. Think of all those little hairs on your body. If you focus on any part of your body, you would become aware of the sensation there.

But once you focus on something else, that tactile sense fades from your conscious awareness. That's because there is a part of your brain that functions like an executive secretary, a kind of censor of what's not important. It determines what information gets through to your conscious awareness, what information at any given moment is of value.

That's why when you read a book and begin letting the story fill your imagination, the outer world begins to fade away. You don't hear the traffic outside or someone calling for you. They have to speak more loudly to get through.

As we focus on something important, things that are less important fade away. Important information gets through. Whatever is considered valuable or threatening.

This explains why a teenager can be watching television and a parent can call them to dinner and not be heard. The value of the parent's voice goes down in proportion to how important the TV show is.

This explains why a new mother sleeps through other sounds, but when the baby starts crying, she wakes up right away. The other sounds are not threatening so they don't get through the censor, but the sound of the baby gets through.

Have you ever been at a noisy party where the whole room is chattering away and you can't make out any of the conversations? Then someone mentions your name and that somehow gets through? Same principle. That's also why people at dinner can have cross conversations with each other and still carry on. As you focus on something important like your own conversation, the others fade.

I once had a neighbor with a barking dog. It kept half the neighborhood awake, but the owners were never bothered by it. The barking constituted a threat to the peace of mind of the neighbors so it got through the mental filter. But the owners loved their dog and were probably comforted and felt protected by its barking. They would have no problem sleeping through the night. If their neighbors knew there were burglars in the area, they might sleep better if they knew that the barking dogs were protection.

You see, it depends on how you psychologically evaluate the sensation. This principle should be of particular importance to teachers. They have an obligation to make the material valuable to the students. Because the moment a student thinks what is being taught is no value to them, their minds shut down.

The teacher and the course material fade away. The student can be looking right at a teacher as the teacher explains something and not get it. (We have all experience this. We lose interest, our minds wander, the filters kick in because we become interested in our own thoughts or fantasies, and minutes go by where nothing the teacher/boss/television/politician says gets through.)

Next, I will give you a tip on how to quit smoking in 2. How the Mind Works.

*** Why do writers write? Because it isn't there.