The Human Mind

1
The Human Mind

• Our thinking could be
• Biased
• Distorted
• Ill founded
• Prejudice
• Lead to problems with our lives

2
The Human Mind

• Our thinking is our interpretation of reality!

3
The Human Mind

• Our mind not only feels but it wants.
• Our thinking molds our feelings and desires.

4
The Human Mind

• Our thinking is not concerned with how our
  behavior affects others but it is concerned with
  what it wants and to collect information that
  validates what we believe.
• Only through thinking can we control, understand
  our mind and how it works.
• Only through thinking can we understand our wants
  and why we feel the way we do.

5
The Human Mind

• Only through thinking and the analysis of the
  thought process, can we figure out how to deal
  with
• 1) destructive emotion
• 2) and change unproductive desires to productive,
  positive ones.
• Only through practicing the control of thinking
  daily can we change our thought process so we can
  change our behavior, our feeling and wants to be
  productive and not destructive.

6
The Human Mind

• Thinking can be reduced to trying to figure out
  lifes events. It helps to describe to us what is
  happening or what should be expected to happen in
  life.
• Feeling is created by thinking. Feelings
  describes whether life events should be
  considered positive or negative. It allows one to
  make a measurement of how your life is going.

7
The Human Mind

• Desires need energy to maintain positive feelings
  even in the presence of negative feelings.

8
The 3 Functions of the Mind

• 1) Thinking
• Makes sense of the world
• Judging
• Perceiving
• Analyzing
• Clarifying
• Determining
• Comparing
• Synthesizing

9
The 3 Functions of the Mind

• Feeling
• Tells us how we are doing
• Happy
• Sad
• Depressed
• Anxious
• Stressed
• Calm
• Worried
• Excited

10
The 3 Functions of the Mind

• Wanting
• Drives us to act as we do
• Goals
• Desires
• Purposes
• Agendas
• Values
• Motives

11
The Human Mind

• There is a dynamic relationship between these 3.
• Each one is influencing the other.
• Think- - - - --Feel
• \ / All 3
  interconnected
• \ /
• Want
• -Your behavior is a summation of your thinking,
  feeling and wants or desires.

12
The Human Mind

• The key is to control your thinking.
• By controlling your thinking, you can control
  your feelings and your desires.
• Thinking can be at the level of the subconscious
  or conscious mind.

13
The Human Mind

• Egocentric tendencies have been taught by you and
  stored in your subconscious .
• Without a committed thought process, your
  subconscious is interested in protecting self.
• Only through self-development can you re-learn at
  the conscious level to reshape your thought
  process, your behavior to certain situations and
  the way you think of others.

14
The Human Mind

• Thoughts, feelings and desires can be organized
  by either
• Egocentric tendencies or
• Rational capacities

15
Egocentric Thinking

• Egocentric thinking comes from the unfortunate
  fact that humans do not naturally consider the
  rights of others, nor do we naturally appreciate
  the point of view of others or the limitations in
  our own point of view.
• We do not naturally recognize our self-serving
  perspective.

16
Rational Thinking

• Rational thinking is properly thought of as a way
  of thinking and acting in which intelligence and
  sound, logical reasoning is used to judge an
  occurrence. One must use the same standards that
  you want to be judged by. Intellectual integrity
  as well as intellectual humility is the way and
  not the exception. They dont play games with the
  English language to serve their own purpose.

17
Egocentric Thinking

• Feelings that accompany egocentric thinking, at
  least at the subconscious level, whether the
  person was successful or unsuccessful are
• Irritability
• Defensiveness
• Arrogance
• Indifference
• Resentment
• Depression
• Anger

18
Egocentric Thinking

• Egocentric thinking strives to get what it wants
  using 2 strategies.
• 1) Domination ---using direct power over others
• 2) Submission--- get what you want by submitting
  to other
• Pathological dispositions of the egocentric mind.
• The human mind routinely engages in the
  unconscious processes that are egocentrically
  motivated. The normal defense mechanism of the
  egocentric mind.

19
Egocentric Thinking

• Defense mechanism are used by the egocentric mind
  which leads to self-deception. So we can see the
  world as we wish in order to get what we want and
  /or to protect our belief system.

20
Popular Misunderstanding of the Mind

• Emotion and reason often conflict with each other
• Rational persons are cold and mechanical, like
  Mr. Spock
• Emotional persons are lively, energetic, warm,
  but poor reasoners.
• One must give up the possibility of a rich
  emotional life if one decides to become a
  rational person.

21
Critical Thinking

• Provides the link between intelligence and
  emotion.
• Enables us to take command of our emotions.
• Enables us to make good judgments.

22
Critical Thinking

• Definition A disciplined, self-directed
  cognitive process leading to high quality
  decisions and judgments through the analysis,
  assessment and reformulation of thinking. It
  presupposes understanding of the parts of
  thinking, or elements of reasoning, as well as
  the intellectual standards by which reasoning is
  assessed and intellectual traits which dispose us
  to think in deep, honest and logical patterns.