Doug Kevilus: Stuck in Patterns – How Your Mind Fools You Every Day
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YOU SIMPLY ARE NOT IN CONTROL….. of your thoughts….. The lucky thing is that most of the automatic thought patterns that we innocently, ignorantly identify as our own and are very much part of us is because the brain adapted reasonably well to its surroundings…. Therefore, in general, most of us know to be polite, to care, to share, etc etc, to a certain and accepted degree as taught by our surroundings… The brain knows that if we do not conform to cultural patterns the owner of the mind produced will face ridicule, and ridicule is a potential threat to survival….
So….where we assume we make choices, yes we do on the surface have that sensation of, but at the same time are not aware that the brain has set the foundation with a nice, greasy slant so we slide right in and conform appropriately… Thousands of patterns formed that are then hard to change and once practiced repetitively become comfortable norms, especially when safety and comfort are confirmed within ones own mind. However, people float around with the delusion that they feel unique and have formed an individual, intelligent identity… The uniqueness most people have though is often just the same pattern of a dress or vehicle cut for example but with a different color or frills added or whatever, but the brain made sure that to a large extent the core pattern was the same….
A biker from Dallas, Texas with long hair and different taste in music will still share the same spoken accent and other key features with someone who likes jazz and dresses all smooth and suave from the same city… It may seem that there’s huge differences, however 98/1000 features may actually be different only…. Where as if the two were grouped together and compared to someone from Iraq or Japan then 403/1000 features may be noticed as different when teamed up and comparison made with other and so in that context similarities are amplified between the Americans… On ground level the perception is that the two from the same city are very different and therefore ‘unique’ individuals but from a different vantage point become noticeably very similar… and need to be to distinguish one nation from another, especially important for group bonding in times of war.
In most parts of India, if you drive past another car or person in the street it is normal to beep the horn each and every time to warn… Literally every single car is doing this… If you are a tourist from the USA then this seems strange and possibly generating a feeling of discomfort as this will sound like a continuous irritating sound…. To the Indians though, it’s just a pattern of conformity, one of thousands they slid into unnoticed and became comfortable with… The tourist will not realize that if the Indian came to USA, they too would find what are normal, comfortable, conforming patterns to the American, will be discomforting to the Indian, until the brain allows that new pattern to eventually feel comfortable.
HUMANS IN GENERAL WANT TO AVOID OBSERVING THE FACT THAT LOTS OF WHO THEY ARE IS A BRAIN PRIMING THEM TO CONFORM…. The irony of another pattern formed, being of ego… We love to play the act of ‘unique’, ‘cool’, ‘successful’, ‘altruistic’ ‘stylish’, etc etc and ultimately INDIVIDUAL, standing out from the crowd… the ego demands individuality and gets offended when placed into the copy/paste mode….We are not individual though in many respects, none of us, we just form appropriate delusional assumption patterns in our mind…. If we were to step back and view ourselves as ant size from a far distance, only then will we be able to see the clear patterns of conformity from nation to nation and way too many patterns separating clearly one region to another…
THOUSANDS OF SAME / SIMILAR tiny little things scurrying around desperate to survive…. Even if you are an atheist in a Christian or Muslim majority country and with that alone claim individuality and free spirit, the chances are you are conforming in many, many other ways gladly fitting in to little molds…. The complexity of the human brain creating mind means that of course there will be minority breakaway small thought / belief patterns within groups…
Conformity is both good and bad…. It’s great to keep same / similar patterns collectively, helps us feel more comfortable, helps eliminate fears, knowing we have support from those around us…. Conformity is also bad though as one collective microgroup pattern clashes with another microgroup…. When the clash happens, both sides assuming their argument is the best one have absolutely no idea how their brain primed them toward their assumption…. Only when humanity can observe themselves truly can they find freedom and togetherness on a collective level.
There’s no shame in conforming, but it’s far better to start observing our patterns in order to help us open doors to better adaptations where necessary… If there’s no honest observation, then only foolish pride remains and we just continue to clash when disagreements are brought about due to circumstances between two or more groups and all remain with the ignorant assumption of intelligent control of all thoughts and ideas….. AND THE WORLD GOES ON….
South America will continue to be 95% Catholic, and the Middle East will continue to 95% Muslim… Eastern block countries will generally continue to hate gay people and Indians will continue to beep their horns and be comfortable with that….. Literally thousands of patterns formed worldwide and hardly anyone steps back to notice differences and to ask why… HUMANS 2017…
By Panayiotis Stavrou
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