It’s All in your Head
Exploring The ‘Secret’ to a Better World.
Have you ever taken the time to see the forest for the trees? What about the trees for the roots which absorb water or the leaves which generate chlorophyll? Have you ever taken the time to consider the radio for the airwaves which transmit your media, such as NPR, that beacon of sedate, rational discourse in a cultural storm of toxic sensationalism? What about the media for the unsung technicians and administrative staff who work hard in said industry to ensure your favorite indulgence is available to enjoy?
Have you ever taken the time to consider the Civil Rights Movement for the brave people who suffered to see it succeed? What about the Abolitionists of the 19th century, like Frederick Douglas, who provided resounding voice to ideals of equality so that the later successes of Martin Luther King and others could be realized? Have you ever taken the time to consider the Women’s Rights Movement for the industrious women behind the scenes who made it possible for the Steinems and the Greers and the Chisholms to shine in the spotlight? What about for the earlier Suffragists who endured long years of scorn in the fight for voting rights so that Shirley Chisholm could not merely contend for high political office, but even entertain and enjoy the possibility of contending for high office?
Have you ever taken the time to consider history for the cycle of causes and effects, actions and consequences, rather than for merely the dates and times? What about the complex and sometimes contradictory nature of human existence, like the paradigm of caring about nature as we selfishly consume ourselves into extinction; or how we tell each other to ‘relax and be yourself’ as a hedge against social anxiety, despite the fact that no one would want a raging pyromaniac or a violent sadist to ‘relax and be themselves’?
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter to me if you have considered these things. My purpose here is not to spoon-feed you a heaping dose of reality you may or may not want to face, but to transmit enough useful information so that people who haven’t can, hopefully, reach a state of intellectual sophistication such that this model of deeper consideration is essentially second nature. The greater purpose herein is to elevate the greater scope of human understanding to a level where we are transmitting accurate information between each other on the complexities of human existence, rather than relying too heavily on hearsay and assumption to divine the mysteries of our time here.
Just like Olympians and artists rely on repetition to build muscle memory, so too must sophisticated thinkers use repetition to build a robust and complex mind. And like Olympians and artists, the process starts with small, simple exercises which are repeated over time until the mental equivalent of a leap or a brush stroke becomes ingrained in the biological system of the individual person. For instance, reading on a higher level requires acclimation to a certain level of literary complexity and then stepping outside the bounds of your comfort zone by taking on a tome of greater literary sophistication; as in, reading juvenile fiction until you’re ready for Anne Rice, and then reading her volumes of work until you’re ready to step up to the complexities of Shakespeare or of Dante’s Inferno or of Milton’s Paradise Lost, and so forth.
Novelty goes a long way in this process, as many have observed over the years. I would venture that one could hardly endure the process of achieving Olympian levels of physical conditioning were there not an abundance of exercises to choose from in order to keep the process interesting. So too would the process of becoming a competent artist grow stale were there not a cornucopia of mediums and techniques and forms to draw upon for inspiration. So too does attaining an advanced level of thinking require novelty in order for the process to be bearable. Consider it the difference between the rote mathematical learning of times tables and the English class discussions on the differences between the literary styles of Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf.
Novelty is fairly easy for novices in this area to utilize. It begins with trying familiar things in slightly different ways. For one, most of us know how to write, but only a fraction of us know how to write with both hands; what’s known as ambidexterity. For those not so fortunate, training yourself to write with your non-dominant hand is a good ‘novel’ way to introduce greater complexity into your thought process, valuable even if you never achieve the same level of mastery over your weaker appendage that you enjoy with your dominant one. Going further, the use of language is well evidenced in human circles, thus learning a second language is a ‘novel’ way of elevating the sophistication of your thinking. It will allow you to not only say the word ‘One’ in a variety of ways, it will lead you to the ability to see and comprehend simultaneously the concept of ‘One’ from multiple vantage points — One, Uno, Eins, Sowo. And why confine language to verbal communication…? Learning to sign as a form of communication adds another layer of complexity that verbal communication alone can not provide.
Another way to encourage deeper thinking is to apply familiar information in ways not previously considered. For instance, pretty much every kitchen has a range top and a sink, two different apparatus with seemingly different functions. Few people consider, though, how similar these things are in their basic function. Both operate on a principle of increased output for increased input, in that you get greater heat output the farther you turn the knob for the burner on your stove and in the same way, you get more water out of the faucet the farther your turning of the handle. Humans and vehicles can be compared in a similar fashion. Both are complex machines (biological in the case of humans, mechanical in the case of cars) and both rely on a type of fuel, a type of lubrication and a type of electrical stimulus to operate. Take out the car battery and your vehicle goes nowhere…FAST… Remove the bio-electric impulses in the brain and you go nowhere…FAST… Without gasoline, a car wont run. Without food, humans wont function well. Without oil, engine parts will grind to a halt. Without water, humans will wither and die.
Ultimately, it’s about learning the rules of a given system and how to manipulate the twists and turns of the system to employ the rules better. The basis of any system is information and in the system of human understanding there are different kinds of information — primarily the kind you know and the kind you don’t know, and in each category there exist sub-categories. First, there is information you know you know — you know you know what a phone is, you know you know what a car is, you know you know what a baseball is. Second, there’s information you know you don’t know — you may not know how a phone is constructed, you may not know how cars originated, you may not know the mechanics of throwing a curveball. Third, there is information you don’t know you know, in that you’ve never reduced the information down to basic concepts so that it can be applied across different mediums, as in the previous examples of kitchens and machines. Last, there is information you don’t know you don’t know, things that are so far beyond your present understanding that you can’t even fathom what they are — babies can’t comprehend taxes, most teenagers in high school science classes can’t comprehend the complexities of particle physics, 1st-term county supervisors can’t begin to comprehend the stress of being President, etc.
Perhaps that last example is a bit simplistic but it does help to illustrate the point that in any given system there exists a higher level of complexity to which one can aspire were one so inclined. When it comes to a system as complex and varied as Mental Health, it becomes ever more important to apply sophisticated thinking to a given problem, owing to the fact that the misapplication of less sophisticated thinking can do significant damage over the longer term. One could, as a matter of course, read Psychology Today in order to ensure a greater degree of common understanding with regard to issues of mental health. However, having a magazine subscription would scarcely be sufficient to claim the ability to diagnose severe mental illness. For that, one would needs years of training and advanced education in order to be of effective usefulness.
It begins with good questions, and the more sophisticated your thinking, the more effective and useful will be the questions — how are phones constructed…what technical innovations made the invention of the car possible…why does a baseball curve when the mechanics of a curveball are properly applied…what is happening in the biological system of a human mind to cause severe mental illness…? We answer these questions with good information and we find good information from good communication — we write competent magazine articles, we create well-crafted and interesting documentaries, we have competent discussions on the complexities of life. In short, we do ourselves the best service by learning to properly evaluate information so that we can be of service to others in the pursuit of better thinking. And by aspiring to this greater sophistication, we will raise the quality of life for everyone.
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It is incumbent upon me to stress here, yet again, the importance of accurate information on matters of human understanding. The damage that can result from transmitting bad information, as has happened too many times in history, is unbearable and untenable if we are to evolve as a species. With that in mind, I will share now some resources that relate to the complexities of human understanding and which I have come to regard as valuable, and I will provide a short commentary on why I feel this way, in the hope that you will be able to pass on better information on these, and other matters going forward.
‘How can you be moral?’: Here are 9 questions you don’t need to ask an Atheist
- I like this article because it provides quality answers to some of the often overbearing, and too often snide, questions religionists have posed to people who have just begun to identify as Atheist or non-religious. Greta Christina is, of course, an excellent writer on these matters, and I encourage reading her further, but the greater importance here is in having accurate knowledge that refutes the erroneous, and usually arrogant, assumption that religion is a necessary part of human existence. It isn’t.
22 things creative people do differently than the rest. If you’re creative, you will understand…
- Even though this list is a rough equivalent of the VoxPop interludes one is likely to find in British comedy series like ‘Monty Pythons Flying Circus’ or ‘A Bit of Fry and Laurie’, it does help in that it is interesting to consider the different ways creative people think in relation to the rest of the world. And having a common understanding of the various ways we think, regardless of predilection, is essential to a well-ordered society.
World first: Dutch brewery burns iron as a clean, recyclable fuel
- I find this article useful in that it begins the process of bringing awareness of solutions to environmental problems down to a consumer level, something that is sorely lacking in a world focused on infrastructure solutions to the problems of Climate Change. We need more practical solutions for the average person on the street if we are to make serious headway on the contamination of our biosphere. Thus, if you can buy beer from a brewer that uses sustainable practices to generate a product, the easier it will be for the average Tom, Dick or Harriet to have a better impact on the environment.
The Worst Things to Say to Someone Who Is Depressed
- The obvious utility here is in educating those not affected by mental illness on the intricacies of people who are affected by poor mental health. Again, it goes toward the value in common understanding within a given society.
Brains of Introverts Reveal Why They Prefer Being Alone
- As brain science advances, so will our understanding of the realities of dealing with mental health issues. Assigning culpability is a big part of the moral aspect of mental illness and the better we remove our understanding of the brain from the moral realm to the scientific realm (meaning we must understand better how in or out of control we are with regard to the actions cause by the absence or presence of structural defects in the brain) the more compassionate we will be as a species.
I Thought I Could Cure My Depression With Green Juice And SoulCycle
- This one, for me, goes to the heart of how important it is to stay grounded in reality when it comes to dealing with mental illness. Religionists will tell you to pray to cure your depression, vegans will tell you cut out animal products, naive celebrities will try to sell you a bottle of glop…the point is that unless there is a sound scientific basis for a given proposition, it’s best to remain highly skeptical of the claims being made.
How positive thinking is harming your happiness
- I like BBC Reel because it does a very good job of providing you a micro-dose of important information in an easily digestible format — the short-form video. And I tend to think humans are highly inclined to better absorb information in short chunks such as these. It’s probably why we prefer reading books organized into chapters now rather than having continued the practice of long continuous scrolls. In this particular video, I find value in the notion that we must always challenge the messages and assumptions of popular culture in order to properly care for our own mental well-being, to stay grounded in reality as it were.
- Having a robust understanding of history is essential to the sophisticated thinker because it allows you a barometer of time and human existence. It enables you to ask questions like how ancient people accomplished seemingly impossible tasks with limited technology. And it affords you the opportunity to evaluate if we in the modern era are better or worse for the differences.
MLMs Are A Nightmare For Women And Everyone They Know
- I fell into the Amway trap when I was younger and was lucky enough to not get drawn so far down the rabbit hole that I suffered for it. As such, the value I see in articles like this is the illustration of just how pervasive charlatans and snake-oil salesmen are still in a world that considers itself more evolved than a century ago, and how evil they are for preying on human naivety. Are humans really evolving or are we just devising ever more complex ways of pulling off the same bullshit…?
- The obvious value here is in understanding how hard it is to escape poverty and how the perspectives of the poor get left out of the various ‘higher’ discussions on how to best alleviate poverty in society. A great many people in the U.S. consider it essential that people of a lower economic strata pull themselves up by the bootstraps, as the expression goes, in order to live better, but this article encourages one to ponder questions like how impossible it might be to do just that if there are no bootstraps upon which to pull…
How information is like snacks, money, and drugs — to your brain
- I like this article for the humorous implication that fanboy culture could possibly be cured by a short stay at a rehab clinic. Beyond the jest, however, I find it useful in that it goes toward an understanding of basic human psychology and why some humans feel perfectly right and justified passing on useless information as if it’s a map to the proverbial holy grail.
BBC: The Truth about Depression
(Alt link) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01sgpd6
- I love documentaries. In fact, I prefer them to books as a means of acquiring information. Even though I am an American and this documentary was produced for BBC Northern Ireland, I find it useful in how it illustrates some of the current understanding of brain science and what implications are being revealed for those who currently suffer from mental illness. Also, it is valuable in that it, and others like it (namely Stephen Fry’s The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive) feature celebrities talking openly and candidly about their struggles with mental illness. I refer you to the written works of the late Carrie Fisher for more on the value of average people seeing Celebrities on a more human level.
DEPRESSION: Out of the Shadows (PBS 2008)
(Alt link) https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/depression/
- This last resource is notable to me because it offered me, for the first time, an invaluable understanding of what depression is, in reality. It gave me language I didn’t know I needed, which is essential if we are to be of service to each other in the pursuit of a better understanding of mental health. The language in question comes in a quote from one of the featured personalities, a man named Andrew Solomon — “The opposite of depression isn’t happiness. It’s vitality.” Solomon is a writer and mental health advocate and I fully recommend looking at his work in greater detail, even if there are a few things he advocates that give me pause. Beyond that, this and other documentaries are a great resource if you don’t fancy borrowing a million text-heavy tomes from your local library.
ADDENDUM
I ran across a few more links that couldn’t be included in the initial draft of this piece owing to the fact that I hadn’t yet properly evaluated them for inclusion.
What You Should Know If You Love Someone With High-Functioning Depression
- This one is valuable because it illustrates the importance of common understanding with regard to mental health issues. It takes a lot of patience to get the ‘depression problem’ right. It’s not a ‘one size fits all’ proposition. Thus, in order for help to actually be helpful, a careful dialogue needs to occur so that a deeper understanding can emerge. People suffering from mental illness may not have the language or understanding to properly articulate what is happening in their lives. The people trying to help may have the requisite compassion one requires in these circumstances, but can wind up doing a world of inadvertent damage if they don’t possess the requisite individual knowledge that is required for their help to be truly useful in a given circumstance.
7 Ways Being Raised By Entitled Parents Can Affect Kids
- Speaking as someone who was spawned from what I can only estimate were two borderline sociopaths — possibly narcissists — I find value in this article not merely because I see a lot of my life reflected in the commentary, but because it touches on the damage that can be passed down from one generation to the next by people lacking in wisdom. I also find it culturally relevant owing to the over-abundance of entitlement in our society today.
Here’s why ‘every American’ can relate to cults
- I like this article because it touches on the question of where religious thinking begins and ends — is religious thinking an exaggeration of human behavior or is the human thought process inherently religious? It also goes to the point of how prone people are still to ‘worshiping’ figureheads — be they politicians, celebrities, fictional characters or what have you — despite the fact that religious participation is on the decline in Western society.
‘Whataboutism’ has become the last refuge for defensive Republicans
- This one is particularly important because it provides commentary on one of the most pervasive logical fallacies clogging up the waterworks in the current zeitgeist. My favorite quote from the text is this -
“‘As my interchange with my relative shows, in conservative hands, whataboutism often results in a comparison of egregious sins of the right to slight or even imaginary ones on the left.”
Whataboutism is just one of the dirty (un)intellectual tricks the Right uses to deflect responsibility for it’s sins, however, so it’s vital to be educated on the matter.
