Self-empowerment begins with self-reflection. The question, “what is humanness or what does it mean to be human?” is obviously a part of any serious self-reflection. For Sigmund Freud and others, humanness was simply a position on the evolutionary ladder. A position with more cortical matter and therefore more inhibitory ability. Mankind’s marvelous brain was not only more sophisticated in terms of its ability to reason, etc., but more powerful in terms of its ability to inhibit impulses. The latter is critical since according to Freud our unconscious was a seething cauldron of animalistic desires that had to be held in check. No higher-self per se’ inhabited the unconscious or anything else about the human being. To the contrary, mankind was a beast separated from other beasts chiefly by his ability to hide the beastliness and engage his intellect in unique ways.
Humanness
Philosophers have long discussed humanness. In a day and age faced with so many possibilities and opportunities (or problems to some), one might think that the basic tenants of humanness might again be a subject of great interest. It is easy to be cynical from a historical perspective and agree with statements such as “Mankind educates his children to become absurd and thus normal” and “In the name of God mankind has killed . . .” However, if one chooses to become an awake citizen then settling for forecasts of this nature are simply unacceptable.
There is a raging debate today over the proposition we call freewill. A review of the current literature easily leads one to accept the fact that very little freewill exists, at least if we think of freewill as making fully conscious choices. Does this suggest that we are more like the evolved animals of the atheist Freud who once stated, “Religion is a sugar-coated neurotic crutch”? I mean, if we have no freewill then how can we be held accountable for our actions?
Unconscious
Assume for a moment that our unconscious does in fact predispose our conscious mind to such a degree that we do what we do and then explain it in 20-20 hindsight, sometimes never truly knowing why we did what we did, and there is a lot of research that suggests just this. We nevertheless have access to our inner lives and can actively choose to engage in training our unconscious. People do this every day when they break long-existing habits, give up addictions, and so forth. The fact is, it is not impossible to change our beliefs and thereby alter the unconscious programming.
Implicit bias studies have revealed that we all hold onto biases of some sort. These same studies have shown us that it is possible to alter those biases as well as become so aware of them that we inhibit their influence over us. This translates to nothing short of the fact that you can change. Given that—we all remain accountable for our actions. The only remaining question then is: Are you willing to do what’s necessary to change? Willing to train your own mind?
Our minds have been shaped by many forces, not the least among which is our fear of rejection. Indeed, often the most powerful forces motivating us unconsciously are those designed to avoid rejection. Painful memories of humiliation, embarrassment, ostracism, and so forth lead to defenses that often result in self-sabotage in some form or another.
Conscious of the Unconscious
To become the person you might be if you believed in yourself is what my business has been all about for more than thirty years. Thousands of people have empowered their lives by simply choosing to train their own unconscious mind. I do not accept the model built into hopeless helplessness as only an evolved animal in corporal existence.
I would encourage all of you to reject self-limitation and begin today to reject counter-productive training that may exist in your own unconscious. Take the time to train your own mind the way you would like it trained.
My thoughts—as always, I welcome and enjoy your feedback.
Thanks for the read,
Eldon
Eldon Taylor
Provocative Enlightenment
NY Time Bestselling Author of Choices and Illusion
www.eldontaylor.com