Much of eastern religion and mysticism as based upon a principle that our fate is sealed at birth. That we are not truly in control of our lives, our decisions have already been made, and our role in life is not to make decisions and choose a path, but to understand our decisions and the paths we have chosen.
Most people don’t like to believe in fate, but the concept is there staring us in the face whether we want to admit it or not. We reject the principle of fate because we don’t like to believe that we are not in control of our own lives, not because we actually understand what fate means.
There is a growing body of research in the field of brain development and conscious versus subconscious brain activity. This research is casting an entirely new light on what “fate” actually means, or what it may have meant to the creators of the eastern religious belief systems we have today. I believe that the inventors of the fate concept were brilliant scholars reacting to the decision making processes of the masses they saw around them. They didn’t understand conscious vs. subconscious brain activity at the time, but they did recognize that there were unseen forces dictating the decision making processes, and thus the lives, of the ordinary public.
Here are some resources you can use to explore this issue in more detail:
Article from Scientific American journal titled “Unconscious Decisions”
Social Behavior Research PDF
Science Direct Abstract on the article Conscious and unconscious perception: An approach to the relations between phenomenal experience and perceptual processes
Much of the brain research that is being conducted today explains and corroborates the concept of fate. Basically what science is learning is that our decision making processes take place in the subconscious parts of our brains rather than the conscious. Which means that as much as we like to research and understand what is going on around us, all of that effort is not being expended in order to make a decision, it is being expended in order to understand a decision that our subconscious mind already made automatically.
That Buddha’s a smart guy, isn’t he?
This explains why I am essentially bringing this blog to a close. I have seen in all of the feedback that I have received from readers that their minds are already made up about these issues, that their arguments completely defy common sense and yet they believe in them so completely. It’s a perfect illustration of how people’s decisions come from unconscious forces rather than conscious, and then their conscious brains construct the reasoning behind these decisions, even if the reasoning doesn’t even remotely fit the facts.
Basically what brain researchers are telling us is that our decisions are actually affected by how our subconscious minds perceive the world around us, and that perception is formed by the way we have been raised and the experiences we have had up to that point in our lives. So, in order to change someone’s opinion on something, or their decision making, you can’t explain the issue to them, because their conscious brain will simply rewrite what you are saying so that it fits their decision. Instead, you have to fundamentally affect their life in such a way that they can begin to see through the forces that are blocking them from making reasonable choices.
This goes back to a statement that Robert Kiyosaki made so eloquently in his book “Rich Dad Poor Dad”. He said that, in general, the rich will continue to do the things that made them rich, while the middle class and poor will continue to make the kinds of decisions that keep them subservient to the system.
The reality is that I can’t undo years or decades of incorrect observation and information that individuals have gained over their lives and that are effecting every single decision they make. That is a process that each person has to come to an understanding of themselves.
The way that I respond to this knowledge of decision making is that I am very thankful that the experiences of my life have led me to this understanding, and I am very careful to feed my brain only the kinds of information and experiences that will help to take me where I want to go in my life.
I think that part of what has helped me is the fact that my own family and peers were such terrible decision makers and made such horrible choices for themselves and me as I was growing up, that it was easy for me to see how wrong they were and how they were able to justify it despite the damage they were doing. That enabled me to begin the process of independent thought much earlier than most. I also had some brilliant influences throughout my life, friends who were so smart and teachers who helped me see beyond the classroom. They were few and far between, but my chance encounters with them have made all the difference.
Even before the brain research had been released, I studied eastern philosophy and decided that living by some basic principles certainly couldn’t hurt, so I did…
1. I surrounded myself with my perceived ideal environment. I live in a resort area that tourists come to in order to escape their daily lives.
2. I am careful with my expenses and I understand the value of things. I don’t own a car less than 10 years old and I was careful during the real estate bubble to not get in over my head, even in a resort area (which was difficult let me tell you).
3. All of my purchases for myself and my family are very carefully weighed on a cost versus return on investment basis. This explains why I buy a laser printer rather than an inkjet printer for instance.
4. I measure my decisions on how they affect society as a whole and seven generations down the path of time (that one comes from a Native American principle). That is why I will spend more on something that is built to last rather than buy something that is disposable. It also explains why I am creating a garden rather than buying easy to grow food items at a store.
5. I understand that spending too much on something “just because I want it” destroys the system for everyone, because price is no longer based on what it costs to create the item, but by how much the average person is willing to pay for it. This ultimately furthers class inequality, creating a world that I don’t want to live in. This is basically the economics of cell phones and contracts in a nutshell, a game I do not participate in.
Somehow I always knew that there was more to the picture than meets the eye, and that’s how I’m different from the people I was trying to help with this blog. But, I have realized that no amount of explaining will help, you have to come to an understanding within your own lives that I cannot provide.
