Our experiences are stored in the human mind as positive and negative files. Example, if you like Mathematics, then you will have a file named ‘Mathematics’ with positive charge assigned to it. Now, if mind is only energy distribution, then don’t you think it is easy to have charges assigned?
Childhood is the most important stage in our lives. We are’ Who We Are’ today mainly cause of our childhood experiences. Our characteristics, the personality we are proud of, our behavior, our attitude gets shaped during our childhood. Let me take an instance to elucidate how memories are piled into our mind.
A child who begins to explore his/her world tries many different things that are unusual to adults. The child does not know how things work in this world. It doesn’t know why electric sockets are placed on walls. Its natural tendency is to check what’s in it. Now, the child is taking initiative to understand its world beyond parents & toys. If the child at this point is ridiculed or frightened, it will lose its natural disposition to explore. A series of reprimanding makes the child feel guilty of its actions.
Here, the mind tries a new experience of ‘Exploration’ and receives bad response from the society so the file that gets stored is ‘Exploration’ assigned with negative charge. In contradiction, if the child is encouraged to explore when it first initiates then the child grows up to think on its own, developing more creative skills.
The three most common negative emotions that are associated with human development are: Trust,Love(Lack of) & Guilt.
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Yes, most of us carry many scars from our childhood and some from our Past Life(Did I read Past Life, Yes, you read it right!) Now, don’t ask me if I believe in it. I am exploring and if experiences of others are just theirs, then maybe it is relatively true with respect to the person experiencing it.
We may not remember the exact incident that created the scar consciously but remember our Subconscious mind that stores all files does remember it. Hence, our actions are indirectly directed from those scars. I am sure most of us face trust issues, where we can’t trust anyone, no matter what; though our current experiences with person has been absolutely pleasant. The reason could be somewhere in the past with someone else, where you were misguided by trust.
Encouragement is ‘The’ incentive in life. Everyone yearns for an acknowledgment from the society(Family, Friends and beyond). It doesn’t even matter if you don’t get tangible rewards but if you are praised or encouraged, it would make your day! Guilt comes out of lack of support from the society initially and of course as you grow there are different ways one can accumulate guilt but no action independently creates guilt. One feels guilty cause of the response from the others.
Lack of care and affection is the most common emotional disturbance that many adults go through. It goes without saying that someone to care for you is the basic necessity of life. Love, Trust & Guilt are often interlinked. One may lead to another.
I believe understanding how emotions stir up in an individual helps us to better view the people around us and also to handle ourselves better. We stop becoming judgmental of others' action and begin to appreciate others' view point. Life becomes more meaningful when you can understand that someone’s action is just not stemming from one particular incident. I continue to learn and garner more information on how the mind works, the more I unravel; the more interesting it gets. One thing I can vouch for, it has changed my perception of life.
12 comments:
Wonderful post, made me think. Yes definitely childhood experiences shape our personality and I agree yes all our past lives do too. Its my belief that each successive generation is advanced because of what it has learnt in his/her past life
Nice post though I want to differ of few issue like learning from childhood experiences as most of us forgot what we have learned. Its the instinct which we get in our genetic code which defines our behavior.
In childhood we learn how to behave in a society but never teach us how to respond to a situation or incident. Its just embedded in our genetic code and which defines us. Other wise every child in same class and school behave similar but every one has there own way of doing things and react to an situation..:)
This is a very useful way to understand why we respond to situations and people the way we do. Also helps explain why we subconsciously (maybe that is not the right word from a technical point of view) seek out circumstances and relationships that feed into those very drives that we struggle to disown.
However, I strongly feel that we are not without choice. We can choose to rewrite our scripts and reexamine where we come from in the light of a more mature understanding. Enjoyed your post and the thinking it triggers. Keep writing.
@ Bhagyashree - Thank you! That's a thought to ponder over as well - it's our collective learning that makes us what we are today. I believe in it, though i don't have much of proof.
@Sachin - Thanks for sharing your views. Yes, childhood memories are forgotten by the Conscious Mind but like i said they are Subconsciously active. So they are not forgotten, forgotten.
Genetic code is a physical aspect while the mind is non-physical. what influences our genetic code? how does the embedding in the genetic code occur? We are not taught every aspect of life but we acquire it through Associative Learning :)
@Subhorup - Absolutely! We can definitely rewrite our script with a little understanding and yes you are right we have a mighty choice:) Thanks for your views.
Storage: How is the charge associated with the file determined. Reprimands make them negative and encourage +ve.Good point. But are we as a society really encouraging the acts which we as a society really need? In my opinion this polarisation must be in tune with the purpose of our creation. I find Darwins Survival of fittest to explain these acts of ours. But why do we need to survive?
On a completely unrelated note, how does memory function. We never get over the memory but loose track of the memory. You seem to give them a place in the subconscious mind. If so,is it possible to be conscious of the subconscious?
Genetic code - physical part.. Yes there is lot of randomness which science will name it as random process / probability and try to explore the same.Can you give me a view through the other glass(other than science).
Trust,Love(Lack of),Guilt - Agreed. These are kindled in a person when he feels that he is left alone in a society. In that state his ability to farther the survival of genetic legacy is questioned and hence the turbulence. Cant we be complete by loving ourself,trusting in us, and getting rid of guilt without abiding any rules?
Last few lines resonate with my recent thoughts and experiences. In the process of understanding an individual you find reflections of the same emotions around and learn to empathize and acknowledge those emotions. Doing so should lead to a better place.
Thanks for writing up. Let the explorations continue.. I want to know about the mind before it reveals it to me!
Wanted to share this link about how babies learn
http://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies.html
Thanks for the link Deepak! Too many random thoughts in your comment. Let me try to address them.
1. I was just speculating on the fact that if mind is energy then charges is the only way to measure them. I don't think there is material on that. Is society encouraging the right behavior is altogether a different subject. I believe over civilizations, we have lost our focus. Survival - i have only spiritual answers.
2. Yes, it's possible to get hold of your subconscious through disciplined practices of meditation. As it is, the mind throws up those memories that are relevant to you at the moment. So, in my opinion it is not necessary to actually dig up old memories until & unless necessary.
3. View of what?
4. Ofcourse we can be complete on our own. But since we are groomed in a society and have learned to be loved & accepted, we need it here. Imagine if you were born and left in an isolated island - things would be different. Again i believe it's your purpose to be born among people and learn your virtues through these experiences - ultimately life's purpose is to be Self-reliant.
Thanks for sharing your views :)
That's a wonderful explanation. How exploration gets stored either as positive or negative image is very well explained. I have a question. I like something to day. After a few days/ months I get bored with the same. How do you explain this? I would have had a positive image. How does it change after a few days/ montsh?
@ Hariharan - Well, first thing that i would like to check is, "What attracts you to the new things". There should be common denominator among the things that you get attracted to. For eg: Excitement of learning something new, Knowledge, keeps you occupied etc etc. You are seeking new things bcos it gives you something beyond 'Just' what you get.
Second, Your interest may fade because, you have further experiences that nullifies your first impression. For example, I don't like bitter guard, am aversive to it but later in my friend's house i tasted a recipe that i enjoyed..now i start liking bitter guard and am open to experiment. From Aversion it has become neutral.
Third, How do you feel when you move from one interest to another? What does that make you feel?
If you are really serious to know why, then we can analyze it further :-)
View of -- Suppose I say that our definition lies in the genetic code and they change in a random part. You seem to put forth that the genetic code is the physical layer and there is a higher layer guiding it.
How do you perceive the higher layer?
@Deepak - If genetic code is the one that is guiding our behavior. It then means it is engineered once and left to stay. But in reality our behaviors change and they change through various mechanisms. For example, Learning is proven to modify, alter behaviors. Does learning then influence our genetic code? There is constant evolution of self - the higher layer is constantly repairing the cells in our body. I haven't really read much on genetic code transformation & its characteristic. What i am trying to imply is, we are not just wired! Now this makes me go to genetic study ;-)
Deepak, to add to that, I think we are debating the 'Nature Vs Nurture' argument which is famous study for psychologists.
Genes cannot dictate behavior, (did some reading) but these are ongoing studies. I feel you come with certain characteristics(innate) ones, (may be programmed in your genes) -Nature and the rest of it is Nurture.
And if you believe in spiritual science then it would mean that those innate characteristics were again your choice of living that life here.
Hope i didn't confuse you further :-)
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