You might have heard of the experiments when people watch neutral images that are mixed with images with strong emotional content for a very short period of time. This is called subliminal emotional stimulus. The observer is not aware of the mixed-in picture, but they react to it subconsciously. If he afterwards tries to draw what he saw, the mood of his drawing is affected by the mixed-in picture.

You might also have seen those visual illusions where several images are hidden in a single picture. While watching them, our mind subconsciously tries to interpret and fill in what is missing and suddenly we see the image. The mind flips back and forth between possible interpretations.

In the picture to the right, even though we know that the pillars are equal in size, we strongly feel like the rightmost pillar is the longest. Our brain interprets the lines as parallel lines going away in distance from us instead of converging lines on a flat sheet of paper. This is mostly a learned and a cultural behaviour.

Our mind is creating an inner world that is a mix of what is out there and our own ideas and emotions that seem fitting. This happen more rapidly that we can consciously notice. Our mind strives to interpret what we perceive in familiar terms for us to make us feel safe. More often than we realize we see what we expect to see and the unexpected pass unnoticed.

We need to be aware of this behaviour of the mind. When we try to learn new things, this filter is active. When we try to communicate, the difference in interpretations easily leads to misunderstandings. If we are asked to describe facts about an event we often jump to interpretations quickly..

It is quite possible to learn to know your own perception and conceptualization process and recognize more of the “raw” data that comes from your senses. You can train yourself to separate observation from interpretation. You can make regular reflections a frequent habit. Probably you have to slow down your life also.

We live in an information age in which conceptualization is a prominent ingredient and it is deeply rooted. Our lives are crammed with activities and we are easily fooled by mainstream messages. We follow our common “culture” almost blindly. Let’s assume responsibility of our minds and actions.

Other posts about this sbuject you might want to read:
Humanness and conversation
Your thoughts are not you

A busy mind

Our mind is usually very busy. Thoughts and feelings are dancing around. We look at something and is reminded of something else. We read some headlines and feelings move on the inside. Your kid comes for a talk and you say “mmmm”, but your mind is elsewhere. Many times, we act like moving by autopilot. This phenomenon is accelerated in today’s busy western lifestyle. Media and information are bombarding us all day long. Thoughts triggers reactions, that create even more thoughts; this can form an endless loop and we are at risk of being burned-out.

Thoughts are not you

The truth is that your thoughts are not necessarily you. Thoughts and feelings move as processes on their own; they are not necessarily produced or run by “you”. Not every thought that comes to your mind need to be attended to, nor reacted on. We are not aware of what is going on. Our thoughts and feelings create patterns, like wheel-tracks in our mind and we react on them, almost without knowing it. We have no time today for quietness and we have lost our stillness. We have no space on the inside to look at our thoughts and evaluate them, because decisions to be made press hard on us. We have no time to reflect, because of our busy schedule

Presentation and re-presentation

Man has difficulties separating real experience from thoughts and feelings of his mind. The presentation from our senses is competing with the representations from our mind. When we meet people or situations, our mind is immediately representing thoughts and feelings. This is a mix of past experiences, collective opinions and media influence. These thoughts and feelings take command and unconsciously control our reaction and behaviour. The representations seem more real than reality and we get deceived. The thought of something frightening can be felt in our bodies, just like we were encountering the real thing. Thoughts are powerful. Thought treats itself like the truth – as just being there, telling you how things are.

Relationships

This confusion of reality and thoughts is like a mental fog that makes relationships stagnate and break down, or even prevent them from being formed. Dialogue cannot move on to a deeper level, because we defend our assumptions. We have already settled on what we think is true about neighbours, immigrants and foreign countries. What we need is a mirror that helps us to see our own assumptions.

Easily seduced

How can ordinary people participate in genocide? People like you and me? How is it possible that Jews was treated like cattle during WW2? Still, it has happened again and again. Why? Because when these people looked at the children and the women, they saw what their minds produced. Propaganda placed pictures and feelings in their minds that spoke louder than their own “common sense”. They did not touch reality and therefore had no empathy. The child was not a child and the woman was not a woman. They looked though the filter of their minds. You can see how important it is, to have this space on the inside to discern our own thoughts.

We have collectively and individually built abstractions and models of reality with our thinking. There is great danger in living in that world. We need to learn to live in the present. We need to touch reality.

Presence

I believe we need times of quietness and stillness. It is necessary to give the dancing mind a break. Some empty space need to be allocated on the inside. This growing in mindfulness and awareness of body and mind is very important for us today. It is really reclaiming our own wholeness and peace and strengthening our “self”. By practising stillness, our minds will get less turbulent and reactive and we will have time and space on the inside to reflect.

I also believe in an emphasis on our senses. Let’s take a walk every now and then and give them a chance. Listen to the sounds. Feel the smells. Look around. Listening to songs of birds means health to your mind. Beholding beautiful faces of children will ensure that we will not one day be deceived by thoughts saying they are something else.