The Wisdom of the Idiot: How You Waste Your Subconscious
You’ve seen people who don’t seem to have a mind at all. They are the ones with no critical faculties, no inner editor. The things they do or say are the things that occur to them in the moment, the things their subconscious minds come up with. They aren’t self-managers; in fact, their egos and wills are so weak that their subconscious minds have been allowed free rein. The result is a person who is a slave to the most primitive part of himself.
It’s these people on whom ad campaigns are most effective. It’s these people who swallow every story or argument without a bit of skepticism or doubt. It’s these people who believe anything, everything, the first time they hear it.
Your subconscious is extremely suggestible. Just look at people like Derren Brown, the stage illusionist, able to achieve astonishing feats with a few words and a bit of suggestion. And so, when you entertain every thought, every impulse that comes into your mind, you are not the master of yourself. You don’t control your feelings or thoughts; they control you.
Why are cults so successful? Because their leaders understand the power of suggestion. In the absence of a strong, conscious will, a subconscious can easily be led astray like a dog.
The solution is simple: Learn to edit your thoughts, just as you would edit a book. You can’t control the thoughts that come into your mind (since they’re actually generated by your subconscious), but you can control what you choose to entertain or believe or view as reasonable or credible.
In his Meditations, Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote: “You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought: everything random, everything irrelevant. And certainly everything self-important or malicious. You need to get used to winnowing your thoughts, so that if someone says, ‘What are you thinking about?’ you can respond at once (and truthfully) that you are thinking this or thinking that. And it would be obvious at once from your answer that your thoughts were straightforward and considerate ones—the thoughts of an unselfish person, one unconcerned with pleasure and with sensual indulgence generally, with squabbling, with slander and envy, or anything else you’d be ashamed to be caught thinking.”
People live dishonest lives because they lack self-control. If we didn’t allow our minds to wander, to entertain and obsess over thoughts we know are inappropriate, we’d have no need for secrecy or dishonesty in our personal lives. We’d have no fear of being “found out.”
As long as your subconscious is driving, your conscious mind is its captive. You must take the wheel. With your active, explicit direction, the subconscious is an extraordinary tool; without it, you are its prisoner.
Your life is determined not by the things that enter your mind but by the things you allow to remain there. You have many thoughts, but they are not created equal. The ones that linger, the ones that are allowed to dominate, the ones that you repeat over and over again, are the ones that end up defining you.
The Marshmallow Test
The marshmallow test is all about self-control. It’s about choosing not to cultivate thoughts of instant gratification and instead give time to thoughts of patience. It’s all about which thoughts you allow to prosper.
The Cycle
Some people allow extremely negative thoughts to prosper. They end up getting into cycles of negative thinking, dismissing anything positive, and then they get depressed – they catastrophize, turn everything into a major incident. They can only escape by changing those established thought patterns.
Your ability to control your thoughts—treat it with respect. It’s all that protects your mind from false perceptions—false to your nature, and that of all rational beings.
Marcus Aurelius
Be the judge, not a passive consumer.
The House Possessed
Jesus says in Matthew 12:43-45:
12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
12:44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
12:45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
Thoughts can possess you, if you let them. And they’ll come back again and again, with more and more terrible thoughts accompanying them.
Trumpism of the Day
“Look at that face! Would anybody vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?… I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not supposed to say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?” – Rolling Stone interview, referring to Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, September 9, 2015
Trump is the “looks” guy. It’s not about actual achievement or character, it’s about how it looks. He’s obsessed with looking like the strongest guy, the best man for the job. He’s obsessed with making all his opponents look bad. He’s racist and many of his followers are racist – in other words, they are irrationally preoccupied with looks.
Hey, Trump voters, this is what he thinks of you:
“The world is a vicious and brutal place. We think we’re civilized. In truth, it’s a cruel world and people are ruthless. They act nice to your face, but underneath they’re out to kill you … Even your friends are out to get you: they want your job, they want your house, they want your money, they want your wife, and they even want your dog. Those are your friends; your enemies are even worse!” – Trump, Think Big: Make It Happen in Business and Life
That’s the model US president? You’re indescribably stupid if you think so.
How do you square that with Trump’s obvious misogyny, babe? You don’t think voting for a misogynist is an implicit endorsement of misogyny? You don’t think that’s a problem at all? He may not directly take away women’s rights, but he does – and has – in effect promote the idea that women are all about their looks. Oh, and well done – you’re really doing a lot to disparage that notion!
Oh, yeah, just move to another state! What if you don’t want to uproot your entire life just because you don’t like abortion laws, huh? People aren’t allowed to complain now? Yet complaining is what you’re doing in this ridiculous video. How about, if you don’t like reading Democrats’ ideas about Trump and women, you just look somewhere else? It takes much less effort than moving to another state, I promise you! Follow your own advice and you won’t look like a hypocrite, babe!
It’s really funny to see Trump’s personality (imparted via the Trump Contagion) being expressed like this. You really don’t realize how similar to Trump you end up sounding when you listen to his propaganda all day long. It’s priceless, really. No, keep at it, it’s good comedy that we all need right now.
