The Biology of Belief - Bruce H. Lipton [57]
Humans and a number of other higher mammals have evolved a specialized region of the brain associated with thinking, planning, and decision-making called the prefrontal cortex. This portion of the forebrain is apparently the seat of the “self-conscious” mind processing. The self-conscious mind is self-reflective; it is a newly evolved “sense organ” that observes our own behaviors and emotions. The self-conscious mind also has access to most of the data stored in our long-term memory bank. This is an extremely important feature allowing our history of life to be considered as we consciously plan our futures.
Endowed with the ability to be self-reflective, the self-conscious mind is extremely powerful. It can observe any programmed behavior we are engaged in, evaluate the behavior, and consciously decide to change the program. We can actively choose how to respond to most environmental signals and whether we even want to respond at all. The conscious mind’s capacity to override the subconscious mind’s preprogrammed behaviors is the foundation of free will.
However, our special gift comes with a special pitfall. While almost all organisms have to actually experience the stimuli of life first-hand, the human brain’s ability to “learn” perceptions is so advanced that we can actually acquire perceptions indirectly from teachers. Once we accept the perceptions of others as “truths,” their perceptions become hardwired into our own brains, becoming our “truths.” Here’s where the problem arises: what if our teachers’ perceptions are inaccurate? In such cases, our brains are then downloaded with misperceptions. The subconscious mind is strictly a stimulus-response playback device; there is no “ghost” in that part of the “machine” to ponder the long-term consequences of the programs we engage. The subconscious works only in the “now.” Consequently, programmed misperceptions in our subconscious mind are not “monitored” and will habitually engage us in inappropriate and limiting behaviors.
If I included as a bonus in this chapter a slithering snake that pops out of this page right now, most of you would run from the room or throw the book out of the house. Whoever “introduced” you to your first snake may have behaved in such a shocked way as to give your impressionable mind an apparently important life les-son: see snake … snake baaad! The subconscious memory system is very partial to rapidly downloading and emphasizing perceptions regarding things in your environment that are threatening to life and limb. If you were taught that snakes are dangerous, any time a snake comes into your proximity, you reflexively (unconsciously) engage in a protective response.
But what if a herpetologist were reading this book and a snake popped out? No doubt herpetologists would not only be intrigued by the snake, they would be thrilled with the bonus included in the book. Or at least they’d be thrilled once they figured out that the book’s snake was harmless. They would then hold it and watch its behaviors with delight. They would think that your programmed response was an irrational one because not all snakes are dangerous. Further they would be saddened by the fact that so many people are deprived of the pleasure of studying such interesting creatures. Same snake, same stimulus,