Consciousness and the human mind

The reason human behavior is so strange is because we essentially have 3 brains. These are the brainstem(reptile), limbic system(horse), and neocortex. The brainstem controls basic survival, and reproductive functions. The limbic deals with our emotions. The neocortex is specific to humans-although it is rarely used. Lets delve more thouroughly. The reptile brain is rigid, obsessive, compulsive, ritualisitc, and paranoid and prone to repetitive, programmed behaviors. It controls vital functions such as breathing and heatbeat. Men have more problem getting past this-which I can attest too. The horse brain, by adding feelings to instincts, can generate more nuanced, flexible behavior. It pursues pleasure and avoids pain. It is our evaluating function, determining whether we feel positive or negative towards something. It subordinates thinking to feeling. It engages in rationalizing of our desires. The neocortex is specific to humans, but not used enough. It is often under the control of the lower brains. When this developed, it did not disengage itself from emotions. You could say that people dont behave rationally-but rationally pursue emotional satisfaction.(ie a drug addict can rationally work out ways to get his next fix) Yet it would be wrong for the neocortex to detach itself from emotions. Without emotions, a person would have no rational ends to aim for. Reason cannot aspire itsself because it involves emotion. Reason and logic are toolsnot drivers. Will power must be the driver. Will contains the motivating, dynamic, self propellng element that reason lacks. The big question is- what is the right balance ? Animals are sentient ie can feel and sense, but they have no language. Human beings are sentient and have language. This allows them to naratise their lives ie to tell a story about events happening to them during the day. However, the nature of this constant narrative is that it cant be switched off. So, even when someone is actually being controlled by subconscious impulses, they have to rationalize what their subconscous has caused them to

do. They think they chose it when in fact they were simply rationalizing after the fact whatever their subconsius chose to make them do. This isnt conscousness even though its often called that. This is what we call narratised sentience:sentience turned into a narrative told by a narrator: I did this, then I did that, then I did another thing and another until I fell asleep..and then I started all over again when I woke up the next day. True consciousness is about being the authentic initiator of your conduct, not the reactor to what your unconscious mind has decided to do. Conscious people are those who engage in activities that are not characteristic of the unconscious. The unconscious is concerned with feeding, fighting, flight,safety,sex, recreation, seeking pleasure, avoiding pain, social interaton, group acceptance, body language etc. the unconscious does not engage in philosophy, self-awareness,self-reflection, pondering what it is and how it came to be. It can be characterized by the difference between mythos and logos. Consciousness is a quality of logos. Mythos is story and feelings-based. If you stop and analyze human behavior intently you can have an incredible epiphany: when you suddenly see humans as primarily animals that can speak and narratise their instinctual behavior. The internalized narrative, basd on I, taking place during every waking second. The I became so strong, so dominant that the left hemisphere with its advanced language skills became dominant and the right hemisphere its slave. But of course, although the unconscious has fallen silent, it hasnt gone away. It still conveys its message as before, but now they are converted into part of the I narrative, even though they didnt originate with the conscious I at all. They are rationalized by the conscious self and claimed as its own work. Many people remain fundamentally bicameral and their lives are effectively an after-the-fact rationalization of the commands of their unconscious. They are like actors in a movie, reading a script, but it was the scriptwriter(unconscious) that provided all the words and actions.

Conscious people are scriptwriter and actor.they understand themselves so well that they control the influence of the unconscious, hence not its slaves.