MLK Day, Part Two: The Malfunctioning Brain - Why Humans Tend To Live in a Negative Thought Cycle

Summary:

Our brains tend to focus on and hold onto negative stimuli.
We need to live more simply, so that we can nurture a healthier mental state.

A Video by Brain Scientist Dr. Jill Taylor
Here is an 18 minute video clip by Dr. Jill Taylor, a brain-scientist, who talks about her spiritual insight when she experienced a stroke in her left brain. What she says is very similar to what is described below, except the information is easier to absorb as it's a short video presentation.

A General Theory of Brain Functions

The science behind describing our brain-functions via the "left" and "right" hemispheres is just a metaphor. Wikipedia says:

Broad generalizations are often made in popular psychology about one side or the other having characteristic labels such as "logical" for the left side or "creative" for the right. These labels need to be treated carefully; although a lateral dominance is measurable, these characteristics are in fact existent in both sides,^[1] and experimental evidence provides little support for correlating the structural differences between the sides with functional differences.^[2] 
Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateralization_of_brain_function

However, many scientists still talk about the distinctions between our left "logical" brains and our right "emotional" brains in a variety of ways because it helps explain our human natures and how we in fact possess both logical and emotional tendencies within us. See A General Theory of Love and the Triune Theory, in which the authors talk about the "limbic" emotional brain, the logical "neo-cortex," and the reptilian brain - these theories refer to similar patterns in human nature using different words. Regardless of the exact science - which is still being disputed- it is indisputable that many scientists use these concepts to help explain our human natures.

"I blame my left-brain."
At this point in our collective evolutionary history, we human beings value and reward left-brained behaviors amongst us more than others. People with strong left, logical brains (e.g. Scientists, Architects, Engineers, Lawyers, Accountants, etc.) are good at making / fixing things, categorizing ideas, and counting - all activities that have helped promote our Golden Age of Consumerism.

The problem with focusing a child's education on the competitive left-brain is that it creates unbalanced, unkind people. "Why help someone if we don't have to? How would helping another help me?" my left-brain might say. Our Left-brains tend to be negative-thinkers - often trained to point out errors in logic. Left to its own devices, our left-brains create a world lacking in compassion, since compassion can be quite illogical, in that it involves random acts of kindness.

Stated another way: our left brain is our Yin, or shadow. Our right-brain is our Yang, or light. The Yin and the Yang represent patterns in the Universe and our interconnectedness.  Both the Yin and the Yang are needed, to improve the overall all design of the future we are co-creating.  

Neuro-scientists say that our brain malfunctions in a negative-thought cycle, and that it continues to live out a "fear-based" response to the World. In fact, the human brain is naturally wired in such a way that we focus on the negative external inputs (and often ignore the positive ones that are equally present) because that was important for our survival in the wild. In the wild, it was important for us to learn from our negative experiences more than it was important to learn from our positive experiences. Our body produces adrenaline when we face a crisis, and in a properly functioning brain, the adrenaline enables our brain to create a deeper emotional memory about that negative experience. So even if you have equal amounts of positive and negative things happen to you, you'll naturally pay attention to more of your negative inputs. So humans get stuck in a negative thought cycle. (See "Buddha's Brain, the practical neuroscience of happiness, love & wisdom".)

Also, the daily stresses in our lives make us focus on our short term goals, at the expense of a long term Vision about ourselves and the World. This makes sense. If we're super worried about what we need to do by Friday - we might stay in crisis mode about Friday until Friday - thereby shedding any thought about what's beyond Friday. However, come Friday, many people don't re-gain long term consciousness. We stay worried about the next crisis - which is again, only a couple of days away. (See Buddha's Brain, "the practical neuroscience of happiness, love & wisdom".)

When we lack balance, we become unhappy because we are not able to correct our negative biases, and continue to live in a negative thought cycle. We become dependent on the food and things that give us short term pleasure. We may also worry more about how other people perceive us and don't work on our inner happiness. These same people tend to try to find happiness externally, and often seek a patina of material wealth that lead to an over consumption of the Earth's resources - a green lawn in the front yard (even in a desert like Los Angeles), the newest flat screen TV, two large petroleum-fueled status symbols in their garage, etc. - which is ultimately not good for our environment.

I know that eating meat makes me happy sometimes. I make the best miso-wine-plum-spice glazed short ribs. I learned from Alton Brown (from the Food Network) to slow braise the short ribs in the oven for six hours at 275 degrees. Frankly, the dish made me happy.  I used to over consume meat because I used meat as an emotional crutch to make me feel happier when I wasn't. I'm not saying that I'm never going to eat meat again. But I know that I need to find other sources of happiness because I care about the consequences of my actions, so I eat a lot less meat now.

It's on PBS. 

 
The video series by PBS called "The Secret Life of the Brain" (see http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/) is a fascinating exposure of what we know about our brain, and how it can malfunction. For example, the episode about the adult emotional brain explains that emergency situations are handled through two distinct (neuro-) pathways in the brain. The below is a geeky explanation:

First, an emergency situation is handled by our amygdala, (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdala) an almond-shaped, older member of our brain community located close to the brain stem. The amygdala triggers unconscious but immediate behaviors in response to potential threats in our environment. So, for example, the show explains that when we are walking down a field and we see a rope, we unconsciously may stop our step half-way to avoid stepping on the rope, thinking that it might be a snake. That kind of immediate, unconscious response (which could potentially save our lives) is triggered by the amygdala, which immediately calls in the assistance of other parts of the brain to create an emergency response. Pretty cool.

Second, the same information is then reviewed via the frontal cortex. Our frontal cortex acts like the "conductor of the orchestra," the orchestra being the "brain community" which resides in each of our brains. Humans have a lot of different capabilities in the brain, and different parts of our brain are responsible for processing different types of sensory inputs from our environment, and then other parts of the brain are responsible for processing those inputs - combining it with our memories, so that our body can respond cohesively to the surrounding environment.

In the example of the rope/snake, our frontal cortex processes the same information that the amygdala processes, except that it is processed with the assistance of ALL of the brain's resources to process the same visual information. So the frontal cortex takes a little longer to create a response. The amygdala, being the quick one in the brain community, produces an immediate, unconscious response. Then, the frontal cortex goes: "Um, we need more information to decide if there's a real danger here." So we then take a closer look at the rope to see if it is in fact a snake or a rope. Upon a closer viewing, our frontal cortex is able to distinguish the difference between a real threat and a fake threat. Then, a properly working frontal cortex is supposed to send a new signal to the amygdala to turn off the unconscious, fear-based response that the amygdala was quicker to produce, thereby restoring overall conscious behavior. In other words, the frontal cortex gets to gain-back overall control of how we think and act.

Conclusion 

A lot of humans are stuck in the unconscious realm, because we have not nurtured balance in our lives. The frontal cortex doesn't restore conscious behavior because we are unable to turn off the emergency response produced by brain segments like the amygdala. And many of us have learned to cope with the environment around us in "survival" mode. As a result, we often live unconsciously, in response to our negative inputs from our environments.

We are more than our Left Brains.
But there is hope!! As human beings, we were each gifted with a better-half. Our right-brains are less about counting, and more about Love and Oneness. Our Positive-half is more loving and compassionate. Our right-brains are more likely to help others, despite the costs. As if our momentums have been pulled far to the left on a Newton's cradle, many of us intuitively want to see the world return to a more balanced place.

The Buddha talked about the Noble Eightfold Path. I was always mystified by its tenets:

• Right view
• Right intention
• Right speech
• Right action
• Right livelihood
• Right effort
• Right mindfulness
• Right concentration
• Right knowledge and right liberation

Perhaps the Buddha meant that we should let our Right, compassionate brains help us make decisions that will lead to a more simple, balanced, and sustainable lifestyle.

The time is now to employ our right-brains in order to take control of our common destinies! The best way to regain our mental balance is to simplify our lives as much as we can. We can start out prioritizing what is most important in our lives, and by doing less.