To Understand Why We Do the Things We Do is a Difficult Process.

One of most common experience we all have is of indulging in excessive eating. We resolve to eat correctly, exercise and watch our weight. But as soon as we see an ice-cream or other delicious savoury our resolve goes out of window. At that precise moment we know it is not healthy to eat this and it is not what I resolved to do yet a part of our mind helplessly sees as we dig into the delicious savoury. Why did we eat it, what made us do this, is a mystery. Do we regret our action later on, of course yes and do we resolve not to do it again, yes defiantly. This was the last time we tell ourselves, but deep inside we know it will happen again and again.

Question here is why does it occur, is our will power not strong enough?

We fancy ourselves as intelligent, rational being capable of being able to make informed choices. We think of ourselves as being who can control their lives and actions. But is it really so?

Most people struggle to get up at the desired time in morning despite years of trying to do so and then rest of the day follows.

May be answer to this lies in we not understanding how our brain functions. Humans are the only species who are capable to see and analyse themselves with a third person perceptive. We can think, analyse and take actions, make resolves and plan what do in future. But our brains are much more. It is full of emotions we cannot control. For most of us it takes a life time just to understand our emotions. To understand why we do, what we do is a difficult process. But without understanding how our brain functions there is no hope of living a fulfilling life. Without it life is at best a roller coaster of ups and down.

Close observation will tell you that irrespective of what we think, we live most of our life unconsciously. For most part brain functions at the level of brain stem, it takes its own decision without asking the frontal lobe or discriminating part of brain.

Oldest part of our brain is same as that in all animals thus is also called reptilian brain. It controls all the involuntary functions such as heart rate, breathing, body temperature etc. It is also coded for survival. It has behavior encoded in it which is needed for survival of the animal and its species.

Second part of the brain consists of limbic system. It is said to have first emerged in mammals. It records memories of behaviors that produced agreeable and disagreeable experiences, so it is responsible for what are called emotions in human beings. It is the storehouse of all our experiences.

Third part is called neocortex, which consist of cerebral cortex. It is most developed in human beings; but is also the most new part of brain. This part of brain is responsible for the ability of language, abstraction, planning, and perception. Speech, logic and higher thinking skill come in its domain.

Brain as an organ functions much like lungs. We can control our rhythm of breathing or completely stop breathing for sometime only, but for most part lung functions as an autonomic organ controlling its function without our voluntary involvement and can even override our voluntary will when needed. So it is with brain, we control only a small part of brain’s functions rest of brain functions are not under our direct control. Only a part of neocortex is under our voluntary control rest of brain functions on an involuntary or autonomic mode.

Our habits and emotions come from limbic system which we cannot control. And survival instincts of the primitive part of brain are so powerful that they can override all other functions. Most of our decisions which we think we are taking voluntarily are already taken by our brain involuntarily, we just think that I am doing it actively but it is not.

Our brains takes decisions long before we become consciously aware of them. Experiments such as Libet experiment points to same conclusion. Neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris argues that free will is an illusion. According to Sam Harris, “We are the mere conscious witnesses of decisions that deep in our brains have already been made. Free will is an illusion. Our wills are simply not of our own making. Thoughts and intentions emerge from background causes of which we are unaware and over which we exert no conscious control. We do not have the freedom we think we have.”

But not everything is lost.

All research points to one fact that we do not control our thoughts and actions in present because most of our brain is not under our direct control. But what we can do is to train the part of our mind which is under our control, so that it can influence and train the unconscious parts of our brain. So that it can take better decisions for us in future.

Train your mind well enough so that when a thought comes to eat that extra gulab jamun, you should be aware enough to realize that from which part of the brain is that thought coming. Is it coming from reptilian brain which likes to hoard everything for rainy day or limbic system which likes to tell stories and make you all emotional or neocortex which likes to reason and analyse. Anyways second gulab jamun will taste exactly as the first one and its taste will last for only a minute but calories it will give you will take a long time to burn.

Thank you for reading so patiently and please share your views in comment box.

Jai Shree Hari.