One reason I like the book "Incognito" so much is that it really makes clear how little of me is available to my mind. My mind does many things, for sure. But as David Eagleman makes clear in that book, the majority of my brain is outside the reach of my mind. At first, that message seemed to be low importance. But it has gained weight steadily as it grew more central to my immediate thinking.
One result of learning more about unconscious processes in me is that I realize more than ever that humans are miraculous. I am a human and so are you. We are miracles! We have already beaten the odds. It is weird that learning what I can't do with my mind has increased my respect for my brain and my electrical system and the wonders of me (and you).
A question that keeps popping up these days is "How can we change other people's minds?" It is often asked in connection with politics: why don't those other people THINK? I, of course, will know when they are actually thinking, carefully and well, when they see things the way I do. When we get to the subject of careful and smart thinking, we often talk about emotional thought or some sort of deeper analysis. This is where Incognito helps us. My thoughts, my spoken words, your thoughts and your spoken words, their thoughts and their spoken words are all oriented, fed into our minds by unconscious processes.
One way to get a sense of my parts that are brainy but not conscious is to watch what I do. Quite a few of the topics I think about and those I worry about come from habits. I have many habits, more that I realize. I get out of bed and get dressed in the morning. I tie my shoe laces. Dressing and tying laces is somewhat tricky but my balance, my goals of pants on here and shirt on here, are guided by habit that are old. Same thing with worries.
Meditation (sitting still until a timer says 10 minutes have passed and looking and re-looking at that spot over there) helps me notice what my mind wants to do when it doesn't have anything interesting to do. I keep thinking of a cup of coffee. Later, now back to that spot. What about a cup of coffee? Yes, in a little while. Has a little while passed yet? Not yet. Doing this sort of exercise shows me that I can think about the coffee or poetry or anything I want. I don't have to think hurricanes or absentee ballots or riots if I don't want to.
