YOU
ARE GOD
Shivam
ALSO BY
SHIVAM
THE
INSIGHTFUL MORTAL
PREFACE
It starts at the moment you are born. At least in
Hindu Culture, in which I was born, I have no idea about the others though. It’s
an Indian customary to take the child to the Priest so that the God can bless
the child, and his life goes on great. If that was not enough, there are many
other customs which follow after the birth. We search for our God, the entire life,
yet no one has proved its existence. Many people contribute their whole life to
the service of God in hope for “heaven”.
But there are very few in this world, who
understands the real God lies inside you, all of you. And so the title of this
book “You are God”. Although I am an atheist, I am not against the belief of so
many people. According to me, one can do justice to his life if he stops
searching for the invisible man in the sky and starts exploring himself. That’s
the only way he can grow. This book is totally about that. What are you? Why do
we exist? Why do we make decisions? My Purpose of writing this book is to let
the readers know about what’s really happening inside their brain and how can
they benefit from it by knowing more about it.
This book has no connection whatsoever to my last
book “The Insightful Mortal” although I would suggest the eager young minds to
take a look in that book if you have lots of questions about religion and God.
This book is totally focused on a person, his brain, his existence and what he
ought to achieve in this Universe. Unlike my last book, I think this book is
suitable for all kinds of readers whether they are religious or anti-religious.
At least I hope so!!
This book has lot of technological terms associated
with Quantum Mechanics and neurobiology, So if any of these subjects freak you
out, you might have a hard time grasping it although I have tried my best to
simplify the terms and write it in a language anyone could understand. And
also, I haven’t got pretty deep in any of the topics, just covered what was
needed to explain my feelings towards it.
Chapter 1 is “God”. It is a basic summary of what
people conceive God as, what it really is, and how can you discover it in you.
Chapter 2 is “Existence” This is rather a pretty interesting and burning topic.
Almost everyone has doubts about it. What are we? Why are we born? These
questions are answered in Chapter 2. It mostly takes the Quantum Mechanics path
to explain our existence.
Chapter 3 is “Consciousness”. Many People have
doubts about this as well. Do we really exist? Or is everything just an
illusion? Many people actually believe it to be an illusion, thus spending
their life in solidarity since they believe life is meaningless and we cannot
extract anything out of it. This chapter goes into depth about this topic. This
time, neurobiology will help us explain what our consciousness really is and do
we need to spend a meaningful life even if everything exists.
Chapter 4 is “The Placebo Effect” I have always been
a firm believer of this effect, although many don’t know what is. In layman’s
term, placebo is basically a fake medication given to a person to trick his
mind into healing the body. There have not been 100% results yet, but I believe
Science has a long way to go, and this is an important key to that, tricking
your mind. The whole idea of tricking
your mind sounds unrealistic to some and quite interesting for others. In this
chapter, we will discuss about this and how it works.
Chapter 5 is “Spock”. Yes, the spock, your favorite
character of Star Trek. Everyone familiar with Star Trek knows about how good
he was in controlling his emotions. So I have dedicated this chapter to him
which will discuss about the ways in which you can control your emotions and
how can you benefit from it.
For the help in preparation of this book, I would
definitely like to thanks Chiren Boumaaza A.K.A
Athene, who has now disappeared from his YouTube viral series videos.
His videos on “Athene’s theory of everything gave me the first clue to write
this book. The way he has used Science to prove these stuff is definitely mind
blowing. So my sincere thanks to him for completing this book.
CHAPTER 1
GOD
What is God? The answer
to this question has is been seeked for a long time without any answers.
Neurobiology has some answers, but rarely one believes it. It actually is funny
to see people believe in imaginary creatures than in real science which has
proof. God is often conceived as the supreme being and principal object of
faith
What if I told you, the
real answer to who your God is lies inside you. Yeah, You heard that right!!
Each one of you is God. And just to justify the title “You are God”. Now there
is a whole range of possibilities that arises from this statement too. Theists
would say, each body has a soul and that represents the God. Again, like every
time, theists don’t have proof of anything like this. So we would jump to the
Atheist point of view. It’s the Brain which does all the tricks. It controls
your body, and the moment it stops working, you are dead.
According to Athene, The
human brain is a network of approximately one hundred billion neurons.
Different experiences create different neural connections which bring about
different emotions. So, what you are now is basically summation of all your
experiences in life. We will discuss this part thoroughly in Chapter 2
Existence.
Like said earlier, Our
brain is made of billions of neurons and they all have a specific task to do. Each
neuron has a voltage which can change when ions flow in or out of the cell.
Once a neuron's voltage has reached a certain level, it will fire an electrical
signal to other cells, which will repeat the process. When many neurons fire at
the same time, we can measure these changes in the form of a wave. Brainwaves
underpin almost everything going on in our minds, including memory, attention
and even intelligence. As they oscillate at different frequencies, they get
classified in bands, such as: delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma. Each are
associated with different tasks. Brainwaves allow brain cells to tune in to the
frequency corresponding to their particular task, while ignoring irrelevant
signals, similar to how a radio homes in on different waves to pick up radio stations.
The transfer of
information between neurons becomes optimal when their activity is
synchronized. This is the same reason why we experience cognitive dissonance,
the frustration caused by simultaneously holding two contradictory ideas. Will
is merely the drive to reduce dissonance between each of our active neural circuits.
Evolution can be seen as the same process, where nature tries to adapt or 'resonate'
with its environment. By doing so, it evolved to a point where it became
self-aware and began to ponder its own existence. When a person faces the
paradox of wanting purpose while thinking that human existence is meaningless,
cognitive dissonance occurs. Throughout history, this has led many to reach for
spiritual and religious guidance, challenging science, as it failed to give
answers to existential questions, such as: "Why or what am I?"
The answer to this
question has always been inside us. People search for it in all the wrong
places, Church or Mosque and Temple eventually screwing their logical thinking
and fighting wars for no purpose. I found an apt slang on the Internet totally
fitting this scenario. Here it goes “You are a piece made after billion years
of Evolution. Just freaking act like it!!”
CHAPTER 2
EXISTENCE
“It's enough for me to be sure that you and
I exist at this moment”
― Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
― Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
What are we? Why were
we born? What’s our importance in the Universe? Does ever existence mean
anything?
These are some basic
questions that comes across every logical person at some point in his/her life.
This is where everything else stops making sense. Why were we born, this
question is still unanswered. But what are we?
this has been answered by Physics and Neurobiology. We are our mind.
Each and every decision we make, is controlled by our mind which is made of
very large number of neurons. Some would say, our soul is responsible for what
we do, and some would say, the Heart does everything, we must learn to listen
to our hearts.
Well, about the soul,
there has been no scientific proof yet about the existence of anything like
that and how it governs us. So, that part is overruled. And People claiming to
listen to their heart, this is one of the most stupid things, one could hear.
Heart is just a blood pumping organ which pumps blood to every part of the
body, and it has nothing else to do with mind. The brain makes all the
decisions, what you like, what you don’t, whom do u “love”? There are different
sections of brain and neurons looking over those facts.
Now, getting to the
real question, what are we? This involves the understanding of Neurobiology. So
things might get a bit technical from here. I would try to explain it in the
easiest way I could, but if you have a strong hatred to Biology only you can
help yourself, and I mean it literally!! I will talk about that thing in the
later chapter.
The answer to what we
really are is actually pretty simple and as most of you would think it’s the
Brain. Every decision right from the childhood to our death is made by our
Brain. The human brain is a network of approximately one hundred billion
neurons. Different experiences create different neural connections which bring about
different emotions. And depending on which neurons get stimulated, certain
connections become stronger and more efficient, while others may become weaker.
We are a global network
of neurochemical reactions. And the self-amplifying cycle of acceptance and acknowledgment,
sustained by the daily choices in our interactions, is the chain-reaction that
will ultimately define our collective ability to overcome imagined differences
and look at life in the grand scheme of things.
So the Brain has the
answer to what you are now. You are made of your experiences. For example, if
you are training to be a sports person, your brain will create stronger neural
connection in that part for you to be creative in sports. It’s just your mind
which does the entire trick and therefore there is nothing impossible for you
to do, you just have to believe in that and boom, your mind will do it.
There is a very
interesting example pertaining to that. Rüdiger Gamm, who was a self-admitted "hopeless student",
used to fail at basic maths. He went on to train his abilities and became a
famous "human calculator", capable of performing extremely complex
mathematics. As you are made of your experiences, the more you train on the
field you want to pursue, the better off you will be.
Another important
aspect of existence is survival in a community or a group. Why do we fear when
we are about to get our results? Why do we fear when we do something wrong? The
answer to these questions lies in Evolution. The Humans have evolved to live in
groups and their aim is to be socially acceptable to that group. When we grow
up, our moral and ethical compass is almost entirely forged by our environment,
so our actions are often the result of the validation we get from society. So
when we think we have underperformed according to society, the neuron fires up
causing you to feel guilty about it.
There are also instances
when you can feel some nervousness while just watching some other person under
the conditions mentioned in last paragraph. This has to do with a concept call ‘empathetic
mirror neurons’. When we experience an emotion or perform an action, specific neurons
fire. But when we observe someone else performing this action or when we
imagine it, many of the same neurons will fire again, as if we were performing
the action ourselves. These empathy neurons connect us to other people,
allowing us to feel what others feel. And since these neurons respond to our
imagination, we can experience emotional feedback from them as if it came from someone
else. This system is what allows us to self-reflect.
We are constant trying
to replicate the people around us, and looking for things which reflect our
mental state. This is why our moods are so often affected by the people around
us and why we can be so immersed in music, games or movies that resonate with
us as if we're socially mirroring the artists or characters.
Everyone feels that
there is always someone who can dominate over you and order you to do things.
Well, this has to do with neuroscience too. Specific neurons and neurotransmitters,
such as norepinephrine, trigger a defensive state when we feel that our thoughts
have to be protected from the influence of others. If we are then confronted
with differences in opinion, the chemicals that are released in the brain are
the same ones that try to ensure our survival in dangerous situations. In this
defensive state, the more primitive part of the brain interferes with rational
thinking and the limbic system can knock out most of our working memory,
physically causing narrow mindedness. On a neural level, it reacts as if we're
being threatened, even if this threat comes from harmless opinions or facts that
we may otherwise find helpful and could rationally agree with.
Another common question
is why are some people always depressed or sad? The answer to this is totally
based on last paragraph. People have tendency to fit into groups and in that
process if that person tend to be suppressed, depression starts at that point. Self-esteem
or self-belief is closely linked to the neurotransmitter serotonin. When the
lack of it takes on severe proportions, it often leads to depression, self-destructive
behavior or even suicide. Social validation
increases the levels of dopamine and serotonin in the brain and allows us to
let go emotional fixations and become self-aware more easily.
Now the most important
question of them all. How can we overcome this and enjoy our only eternal life
with total freedom? The answer to this lies in self-awareness. You must know
who you are, and what are you capable to do. There is no one stopping you in
attaining your goals. Always make your own decisions, people may come and go,
but letting them influence your decision could turn out to be your worst
decision. Research in the field of memetics shows that our cultural ideas and practices,
or memes, are achieving evolutionary change at a much faster rate than our
genes have ever done in the past. The most inspiring memes often live on and
define our evolution. But unlike genes, memes are directly influenced by our
intellectual awareness.
Be Selfish. Be clear in
what you want. Do not fall for social obligations. The brain's neural activity
resonates most coherently when there is no dissonance between these advanced
new cerebral regions and the older, more primitive, ones. What we traditionally
call 'selfish tendencies' is only a narrow interpretation of what self-serving behavior
entails, where as in human characteristics are perceived through the flawed model
of identity, instead of through a scientific view on what we are: a momentary
expression of an ever changing unity, with no center. The only way you can be
what you want to be is pursuing it the time you learnt that. No age is too late
for that. You just need the right enthusiasm to achieve your goals. Most people
learn it the hard way, and there are people like me who are still trying to
learn how to outcome the social barrier and fulfill your wishes.
CHAPTER 3
CONSCIOUSNESS
“We are the cosmos made conscious and life is the means by
which the universe understands itself.”
― Brian Cox
― Brian Cox
Do we really exist? Is everything around us merely
an illusion? Is there anything real in this Universe? Many people come across
these questions. Some try to answer it using Science, and some try it to find
the spiritual way. Well, I am more of a science guy, so you can expect another
chapter full of scientific terminologies. Sorry, for that, but there are no
other ways possible to explain this. The answer lies in Quantum Mechanics and
also in our own Brain.
Most people have really hard time believing in the
real world and our objective in life. And they have a genuine question. It’s
complicated to describe that too. Let’s take an example to clear that up.
Suppose we have a time machine (just suppose), now just travel 5000 years back
in time and talk to a random person. Now, while talking to him, you start the
conversation about Earth, and he says Earth is a flat disc. You will be amused
and will try to convince him that it’s not. They obviously wouldn’t believe you
and will ask for evidence. You, being a normal person obviously don’t have the
evidence to prove it. So, taking a sad and dejected face, you come back to the
current time. After some days, you again want to travel back in time, but this
time just 500 years back. After meeting another random person there, you would
be pretty relieved to know that they actually believe in the fact that Earth is
round. But there is another problem here, they believe that Earth lies at the center
of the Solar System and doesn’t move. This has dejected you again, and you come
back to the present.
What does the last paragraph imply? It definitely
tells us that at some particular time, we were not in a state to accept the
truth because of lack of evidence. But as the time progresses, people
eventually find out the reasoning behind everything. By analogy with these
examples from the past, we can reconcile our experience of a real objective
world. Due to this limited experience,
we often fall prey to the illusion that what seems to be absolutely true is
absolutely true. But the moment we depart from the limitations of the ordinary
and expand our experience to include more subtle observations, these fictions
are revealed to be just approximations to a more comprehensive reality.
We
would now try to find the answers using Quantum Mechanics. Neils Bohr and
Warner Heisenberg were physics legend of 20th century. They are the
creators of quantum mechanics, the most precise and far-reaching physical
theory ever devised. It explains how the sun shines, how molecules bond
together, how iron is magnetized, and even why objects are hard. This is the
physics that gives us computer chips, lasers, and atomic bombs. So to dismiss
quantum mechanics is to throw out the cornerstone of modern physics and the
basic theory at the foundation of all these modern wonders.
Having
understood how, in spite of our experience to the contrary, it is possible that
the objective existence of the world is an illusion, let us now look at the
quantum mechanical evidence itself. Around the turn of the century, experiments
were beginning to open a window to the world of the atom, a world that had
before been hidden completely from view. But the common-sense ideas of
classical physics contradicted what was observed in this new world. For example
color of light emitted by the atoms did not comply with the result given by the
classical mechanics. Max Planck discovered that the observed colors can be
explained if it is assumed that light is emitted in chunks that he called
quanta. This was quite a paradox; since many experiments seemed to indicate
that light was a wave.
To
demonstrate this effect a very important Interference Experiment was conducted.
Getting to the deep of will definitely get you all bored and confused. So I
will jump to its conclusion. This experiment played a major role in accepting
the wave theory of light. These experiments can be done with electrons,
photons, protons, neutrons--any subatomic particle you like. The result will be
the same. It unequivocally demonstrates that all subatomic particles do not
have definite material existence when they are not being observed. These effects
can also be observed with atoms and small molecules. When millions and millions
of molecules are clumped together into a macroscopic object, however, the
effects are not usually noticeable. So
all matter is really this way. Even large macroscopic chunks of matter. The
independent existence of the material world is an illusion. This is very
startling--or it should be very startling.
There
was another famous physicist Schrödinger who was the inventor of quantum physics introduced a
great theory called the “Schrödinger Cat Experiment”. He imagined putting a cat in a box with a
radioactive atom and a detector that would trigger a bottle of poison to break
when the atom decayed. Since the whole thing is unobserved in the box, the
state of the atom, and consequently the state of the cat, is not determinate.
Just as the photon does not take one route or the other unless it is observed,
the cat is not alive or dead unless it is observed.
That
is exactly what quantum mechanics itself says. There is even hard evidence now
that large macroscopic objects can exist in these strange non-local quantum
states. Examples are superconductors, superfluids, and lasers. These are the
exceptions, though. For most macroscopic objects, the quantum effects are not
noticeable. They are there, to be sure, but they are not noticeable. The reason
the quantum nature of most objects is not noticeable is because of a phenomenon
called decoherence.
It
is important to remember that, like the earth appearing flat, this decoherence
effect is only an appearance and is not real. The quantum coherence is really
still there--it is just hidden in the microscopic details and is not noticeable
on the macroscopic scale. So, in principle, macroscopic objects, just like
microscopic objects, do not have objective existence in definite locations
while they are not observed. Nevertheless, because of this decoherence effect,
the macroscopic world appears in a manner that is consistent with objectively
existing matter. So, although the objects of the world do not actually exist
objectively, they appear as if they did.
That
was all about the Quantum Mechanics part. Now we have to get into the
Neuroscience Part which will explain how our brain perceives the reality.
The
task of Science of Consciousness is integrated into two subtypes- third person
view and first person view. When a
conscious system is observed from the third-person point of view, a range of
specific behavioral and neural phenomena present themselves. When a conscious
system is observed from the first person point of view, a range of specific
subjective phenomena present themselves. Both sorts of phenomena have the
status of data for a science of consciousness.
In
simple words, First person view is the type of information your brain processes.
It is basically different experiences you have like Visual experiences (e.g.,
the experience of color and depth), other perceptual experiences (e.g., auditory
and tactile experience), Bodily experiences (e.g., pain and hunger), Mental
imagery (e.g., recalled visual images), Emotional experience (e.g., happiness
and anger), Occurrent thought (e.g., the experience of reflecting and deciding).
On
the other hand third person data involves the following: Perceptual discrimination
of external stimuli, the integration of information across sensory modalities,
Automatic and voluntary actions, Levels of access to internally represented information,
Verbal reportability of internal states, the differences between sleep and
wakefulness.
Both
third-person data and first-person data need explanation. An example is
provided by the case of musical processing. If we observe someone listening to
music, relevant third person data include those concerning the nature of the
auditory stimulus, its effects on the ear and the auditory cortex of the
subject, various behavioral responses by the subject, and any verbal reports
the subject might produce. All of these third-person data need explanation, but
they are not all that needs explanation. As anyone who has listened to music knows,
there is also a distinctive quality of subjective experience associated with
listening to music. A science of music that explained the various third-person
data just listed but that did not explain the first-person data of musical
experience would be a seriously incomplete science of music. A complete science
of musical experience must explain both sorts of phenomena, preferably within
an integrated framework.
The
Third-person data is often referred to as the easy type while the first person
data is referred to as the difficult type for the obvious reasons. Scientists
today have undertaken many projects for consciousness of first person type. We
have achieved quite much till now and there are lots of breakthroughs to be
made by Science in the upcoming years.
CHAPTER 4
THE
PLACEBO EFFECT
“Paranoia, the more you
think of an imaginary problem, the more you feel as though it’s real”
― Simona
Panova, Nightmarish Sacrifice
Everyone in this world has
heard stories about blessed men sent by “God” who could apparently cure
anything just by their touch. Well, this statement is partially true and
partially wrong. Some people were actually cured, but not by his healing power
but by their own brain, which actually thought that their body was cured, and it
really did. This is the power of your mind, and the effect called Placebo
Effect.
A placebo is a
simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other
medical condition intended to deceive the recipient. Sometimes patients given a
placebo treatment will have a perceived or actual improvement in a medical
condition, a phenomenon commonly called the placebo effect. Placebo effect
consists of several different effects woven together, and the methods of
placebo administration may be as important as the administration itself.
Now, let’s get to the
science behind it. It is again all about the parts of brain stimulated. Functional
imaging upon placebo analgesia shows that it links to the activation, and
increased functional correlation between this activation, in the anterior
cingulate, prefrontal, orbitofrontal and insular cortices, nucleus accumbens,
amygdala, the brainstem periaqueductal gray matter, and the spinal cord. These
changes can act upon the brain's early stages of information processing:
Research using evoked brain potentials upon painful laser pulses.
Different areas in the
higher brain have different functions. The prefrontal involvement could be
related to recalling the placebo and maintaining its cognitive presence in a
"self-reinforcing feedback loop" (during pain an individual recalls
having taken the placebo and reduced pain reinforces its status as an
analgesic). The rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) and its subcortical
connectivity could be related to the expectation of potential pain stimuli.
The higher brain works
by regulating subcortical processes. High placebo responses link with enhanced
dopamine and mu-opioid activity in the circuitry for reward responses and
motivated behavior of the nucleus accumbens, and, on the converse,
anti-analgesic nocebos responses were associated with deactivation in this part
of the brain of dopamine and opioid release. It has been known that placebo
analgesia depends upon the release in the brain of endogenous opioids since
1978. Such analgesic placebos activation changes processing lower down in the
brain by enhancing the descending inhibition through the periaqueductal gray on
spinal nociceptive reflexes, while the expectations of anti-analgesic nocebos
acts in the opposite way to block this.
The biggest
breakthrough in the science of placebo effect was Mr. Wright, who had advanced
cancer of the lymph nodes. There was a physiologist, Bruno Klopfer who was one
of the doctors participating in new drug test called Krebiozen. Now, Doctor
Bruno Klopfer was treating his patient Mr. Wright. When he found out about the
AMA and FDA experiments with Krebiozen, he asked to be a part of it. Mr. Wright
had been through many unsuccessful treatments and didn’t have too much time to
live. His neck, armpits, chest, stomach, and groin were full of tumors as big
as an orange, not to mention the horrible condition of his kidneys and spleen. So Mr. Wright agreed to be part of that
medication.
Even though the study
of Krebiozen wasn’t completed and it could have been fatal to the patient, Dr.
Klopfer injected Mr. Wright with one dose of it. He was very worried that this
“cure” would kill his patient. After few days, Mr. Wright got out of bed by
himself and was able to walk around. It was a miracle! His tumors were twice
smaller! Even the strongest radiation or chemotherapy could not have been
expected to cause such a result. When Mr. Wright first got to the hospital, he
wasn’t able to live without the oxygen mask, but now, ten days after Krebiozen
was injected, he was released from the hospital as an absolutely healthy man
without a trace of cancer. When Mr. Wright got back home from the hospital, he
was able to pilot his own plane at the height of 3 kilometers.
Everything was going
fine till 2 months, until when press started to release articles about
Krebiozen and how it was ineffective in cancer treatment. Being an analytical
person who was interested in science, Mr. Wright became depressed. Eventually,
the cancer came back and he was forced to go back to the hospital.
This time Dr. Klopfer
tried to perform a psychological experiment and injected him with distilled
water convincing him that this is the new enhanced and powerful drug which has
been tested successfully. To his
surprise, he found out that Mr. Wright became totally fine again and was
discharged from Hospital.
But again, after 2
months, the American Medical Association released an official article, describing
the Krebiozen drug to be a total failure in cancer treatment. This caused Mr.
Wright depression again, and as a result, he developed cancer again and died within
2 days.
Our emotions are
tightly connected to the endocrine system. For example, fear is connected to
adrenaline. When we are afraid or anxious about something, adrenaline is
released into our bloodstream. Conversely, when we are calm or not afraid of
anything, there is no adrenaline in our system. Emotions and hormones are in
balance.
Whatever we think, our
thoughts get transformed into chemical reactions. The hypothalamus is
responsible for that. It's located below the thalamus, just above the brain
stem. Liberins, also known as releasing hormones, is a substance that regulates
the release of the hormone, gonadotropin (or glycoprotein hormones) in the
pituitary gland (or hypophysis). The pituitary gland is one of the most
important glands in the human body. The nerve cells of the hypothalamus form these
liberins and work as a receiver for theneuropeptides, which are small,
protein-like molecules that help neurons communicate with each other. That way,
after receiving a signal from other parts of the brain with the help of
neuropeptides, the hypothalamus changes the secretion of hormones at the
hypophysis and it controls sugar levels, hunger, body temperature, etc. It also
regulates the adrenal glands, the working regime of our heart and lungs, and it
has a direct influence on the digestive and circulatory systems.
Enough of the technical
terms, this basically gives us the hint that we can control our body by our
mind. We can cure ours elf, we can envoke positive thoughts inside us to help
us perform better and many others.
This is actually a
great secret towards living a wonderful life, you dream of. All you have to do
is believe in yourself that you can actually do it.
Master Oogway has
rightly said in the movie Kung Fu Panda
“You Must Believe!!”
This quote also has a
scientific base and the best thing about it is it always works. Here are lists
of statements that can keep you motivated in your life towards achieving your
goals.
1. I am perfect in whatever I do.
2. I don’t need
anything more. I am happy with whatever I have now.
3. Every person on this
planet is amazing, it’s just they want different things in life
4. I am getting
stronger and stronger day by day
5. I don’t mind people
doing things which I don’t like. This is the only process by which they can grow.
6. I am happy because I
understand the illusion of the Brain, and I have learnt to live beyond it
7. I am what I am.
CHAPTER 5
SPOCK
“Live
Long and Prosper”
― Spock
For all the geeks out there,
Spock needs no introduction. This guy has had a great fan following and
apparently everyone liked him. Some wanted to be like him, while some found his
behavior amusing from a distance. Me being the person who has always wanted to
be like him but damn I didn’t have any Vulcan roots. For the rest of people who doesn’t seem to
get a hang of him or Star Trek, here comes his introduction. Spock is a fiction
character in Star Trek who plays the role of Science Officer in the Enterprise.
Star Trek is a kitsch
guilty pleasure with big philosophical ideas. The show’s creator was an atheist
and humanist who aimed to show characters co-operating through reason and
humanity. First broadcast in 1966, it explored ethics, philosophy and politics
and challenged its audience with a multi-racial cast and the first televised
inter-racial kiss.
Star Trek’s Mr. Spock
is probably the Stoic icon of pop culture. His character has brought Stoic
ideas to millions. The use of Stoicism was deliberate and the show’s creator is
quoted as saying he “gave Stoicism to Spock.” Spock is the ship’s science
officer, guided by his Vulcan philosophy which is based on logic and emotional
control. He controls his emotions and withholds judgment. He uses meditation
and finds human emotions “illogical.” Yet he (as well as Stoicism) is often
misidentified as being without emotion, coldblooded and unfeeling.
Now, what does Stoicism
mean? Stoicism is essentially a system of ethics which is guided by logic as
theory of method and tests upon Physics as foundation. Briefly, their notion of
morality is stern, involving a life in accordance with nature and controlled by
virtue.
This chapter will
discuss about stoicism as well as being like Spock i.e. totally emotionless
creature. I will discuss about the benefits of this principle and how can we achieve
it.
Every one of us has
seen different kind of emotions: happiness, anger, lust, sadness depression. At
times, we feel at the top of the world on achieving something great and there
are times when you feel sunk inside a hole. These emotions drive you around and
affect your decision making. It might be good sometimes but not always. There
are times when you wish you hadn’t done some thing or shouldn’t have said
something due to anger. The only thing left at that time is remorse and
eventually depression.
What If we can control
these emotions? Wouldn’t it be great to be happy and careless always? There
would be nothing to worry about. Some people might say, what’s the point in
living such a boring a dull life where u cannot cherish the moments u love?
Well, that’s absolutely correct. But since we are all human and I guess there
is no one around here with a Vulcan half, we can just try to be emotionless; we
can never completely overrule it. The good point with trying to be emotionless
is that you will rarely feel negativity in you. All you would look for is
happiness and trying to be yourself.
Believe it or not, all
are actions are governed by a third person. Evolution says that we have all
been evolved to stay in groups and to be a part of it, you need to make people
around you feel worthy. This causes the problem to everything. To get approved,
people have to look formidable, and hence comes the emotion. You might feel sad
when you get less mark in exam because you feel you might not get accepted as
honorary student in the society. This tale never ends. So you get the gist
where does our emotions root from.
Each person makes his
decisions either based on logic or driven by his emotions. An average person
would say you make your decisions by your mind or your heart, and you should
always follow your heart in these scenarios. Every time someone says this, Hulk
inside me grows but the Spock controls the situation although by not much
letting me shout “Bullshit”. Every decision is made by your brain. Heart is
just a pumping organ, nothing more.
These two views are
echoed in modern neuroscience by Daniel Kahneman. He sees each brain as
operating two systems: System 1 makes rapid decisions based on intuition and
emotion – while System 2 makes complex decisions based on analysis and logic. A
Stoic is exhorted to act “for the common welfare.” Both these thinking systems
can achieve this; System 1 by automatic mental responses where emotion triggers
an action to avoid danger or protect those in need and System 2 by logical
analysis.
How can we be
emotionless? What are the tricks involved? Well there are some basic thumb
rules which might help you to stay focused and achieve your goals without being
buried in emotional turbulence.
1. Acceptance- This is the most important thing about self-realization.
One must totally accept their fate and should go according to it. But it should
not stop you from dreaming big. The thing about being emotionless is that you
should not fall prey to the hurdles in between, accept it as fate and go on. Some
would say Love often destroys your career path. But that’s again a stupid term.
There is nothing called love, it’s just attachment between two opposite sexes
for the reason everyone knows. It’s just the mind which makes up these things.
If you can control your mind, there would be no such barrier
2.
Community before self- This might
sound like a statement negating my previous statement but trust me it doesn’t.
Being around with someone is always good for your physical as well as mental
health, provided it’s the person you like to be with. Always try to be with a person
who invokes positive thoughts in you and are always positive. This way, you
would have the opportunity to grow and discover your strengths. By helping others,
volunteering, giving time to mentor or guide others, sharing your knowledge and
your cup of sugar with other people in your community, you'll find your
emotions aren't such a driving force. Another great thing about being with
different kinds of people is that you can’t time to think of your emotional
problems. This thing works pretty well when you are in some kind of distress.
3.
Creating new mind gaps- According to neuro-leadership
expert David Rock, it's very hard to rewire our neural pathways. Instead, it's
a whole lot easier to make new ones. And the good news is that new mind maps,
or new ways of thinking, tend to be stronger because they're fresh and highly
focused. This also implies that instead of focusing on all the old problems and
habits, one could create a new mind gap of being highly successful and
motivated. • Spend all of your energy on creating this new mental map through
actions that confirm objectively that this is the person you are. With
practice, you'll shape this new neural circuitry and you can simply ignore the
old wiring that had you so emotionally overwrought.
4.
Thinking a logical answer to everything- It’s one of the
hardest things to do since we are all controlled by our emotions. And at some
particular point, we tend to make an emotional decision. The best thing to do in
such situations is to view your life as a third man’s perspective. That way,
the emotional factor governing the decision will be very less and you tend to
make a logical and perfect decision. With
dissociation, you don't allow yourself to be subjective; instead, you remain
objective, like a doctor treating a patient. In neuro-linguistic programming,
this technique is called "reframing."
5.
Live in Present- Most of the worries that a person gets
is by overthinking or worrying about the future. There are many cases of
depression and suicides pertaining to this. However hard the consequences are,
it’s solution is pretty simple. Live in present, not in past, not in future,
100% present. It is not that easy as it sounds, but with practice, it gets
better and you could enjoy your moment better. It doesn’t actually stop you
from planning your future, it just tells you not to worry about it, once you
have done your work.
6.
Be logical- Rather than assuming things based on
fear, anger or similar emotional reactions, work purely with facts. Logic often
combats out-of-control emotions and allows you to see the reality in any
situation. After all, reality is outside your head -- not your interpretation
of it. If you did not qualify in a job interview or an exam, remind yourself that
you were not qualified enough for that position. Staying logical in an emotional crisis allows us to take
well-established mental shortcuts instead of thinking things through more
substantially. When you're used to reacting emotionally to difficult
situations, you have to retrain your mind to think logically
7.
Remove self -destructing thoughts- Don’t whip yourself into a
frenzy of self-pity and internal loathing. Media images of the perfect body,
the perfect lifestyle, the perfect job and the like are targeted at making us
all feel "less than." You can choose whether or not to entertain
these thoughts. The best solution to this is not comparing yourself with
another person. That way you are ignoring the unique quality in you and suppressing
it. Stop thinking that you aren't
equipped to handle a situation or thinking everything always goes wrong anyway.
Thinking this way actively undermines your functioning. Instead, replace
thoughts like these with logic, and try to find a solution to your situation.
8.
Be cool- That’s
another important that helps you control your emotions better. Be it meditation
or deep breath at an emotional junction, anything that works out for you is the
best. Choose something active that makes
you feel good. If you're sad or worried and you can't stop thinking, run
outdoors with your pet, go to the gym for a workout or take your camera and go
shoot photos of nature. Do anything that will actively engage your mind and
force your thoughts away from emotional ones.
These 8 points are
quite major ones to make you think rationally and relieve you the emotional
factors. These things will definitely not come at once, but it needs great
practice. Many of us had this childhood dream of becoming like Spock. Those
people are definitely one step towards it. “Live Long and Prosper”
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