We are not trying to debate this issue or contest what these wise men have said in the past. Let’s just focus on the facts as we know them.

What we know is that there are 3 parts to the human brain. There is the Reptilian or Primitive brain that developed millions of years ago when we crawled out of the waters and evolved into reptiles. As we developed, our brain grew outward and formed what we now know as the mammalian or emotional brain. In more recent times in the evolutionary cycle, we grew our third and final brain, the Conscious Thinking brain.

The reptilian brain regulates basic life functions of breathing and reflex. The Mammalian brain is the unconscious part of our brain and our emotional centre. It deals with values beliefs and attitudes and generating the emotions that they trigger. It is also called our limbic brain.

The conscious or Thinking brain, also known as the neo cortex is responsible for thought.

Modern science and technology enabled the Functional Magnetic Resonance imaging that allowed us to see the changes occurring in the brain as the neurons fire. It is like being on the side lines as the great drama of the mind unfolds and being able to see where the action is taking place. 

Research indicates that our subconscious emotional brain is much more active than our thinking logical brain. It is estimated that up to 6 billion nerve cells are firing in our emotional brain in any one second as compared to 100 firings in our conscious thinking brain. That’s the difference between a narrow forest trail and a 12-lane superhighway. 

If so much is happening in our subconscious mind, should we not be more aware of what’s going on. Yes, certainly, and that is the key to freedom and to crafting a life of our choice.

So, what is going on?  Since we were born, the environment around us has been stimulating us in various ways. Our senses receive these stimuli and everything that has happened to us and around us has left an impression on our mind. These could be elevating, they could have been warm and comforting, or they could have been detrimental to our wellbeing. Whatever it was, it has formed a pattern in our mind.  When we were children, there may been many situations when we could not do what was expected of us. Someone may have commented on our inability to perform and may then have commented that we are not capable of doing it. That’s what was recorded. I am not capable of doing this.  In all fairness, the person who made the comment, may have intended it to be a kind of prodding for us to do better. But we heard it otherwise. We recorded it in our mind as “I cannot do this”. Today, when we are faced with any situation, we respond based on the large data bank of past impressions that we have. These impressions were termed as Samskaras by ancient Indian rishis. They are our Mental maps, tendencies, Standard operating procedures and those voices that say that we cannot do it, or that the world is not a safe place, or that everyone is out to get us and so on.

Imagine, you are now a middle-aged executive, being reprimanded by a female boss who in detail tells you about your inabilities, deficiencies, and failings. Your mind, instantly goes back to a situation when you were in primary school and your teacher held up your homework and told the whole class how stupid it was. The whole class laughed, and you tried to sink under the desk out of shame.   But your subconscious mind has not forgotten the ridicule, the shame and the hurt that you experienced.  

Coming back to the question that we asked at the beginning, our mind, is it friend or foe? And the answer is it is whatever you want it to be. It can be either.

The mind acts for or against us, based on 2 factors. One is due to evolutionary biology and the other is due to the Samskaras or impressions that we have accumulated and which now reside in our subconscious mind. 

When we consciously engage in activity, the stimuli that are first processed by brain structures in the limbic system such as the Amygdala, the Thalamus, hypothalamus etc, are also passed up to the Neo Cortex. This is whare our Thinking brain can influence the selection and initiation of behaviours. Thus the same stimulus can have varying responses from different people. This is where we have a conscious choice.

When the situation demands rapid response, as in a life threatening situation, there is no time for evaluation by the Neo cortex. Remember that the pathways in the thinking brain are narrow and the volume of information that can flow in the neural circuits is limited. Speed is not one of its characteristics in comparison with the mammalian brain. We must act swiftly to survive. In such situations, we experience what Daniel Goleman famously called the Amygdala hijack.  The signal pathway is short circuited, and the cerebral cortex is simply cut-out of the circuit. The amygdala takes charge, and the sympathetic nervous system initiates the fight or flight response and the hormones adrenaline and cortisol get secreted to prime us for rapid response.

While socially we have evolved at a rapid pace, biological evolution follows a different time scale. Our reptilian and mammalian brain which includes the limbic system, has not evolved at the same pace as our social structures. As a result, the mind is unable to distinguish between the threat posed by a tiger that wants to have you for lunch and the ridiculing comments made by your boss or the deadline that is looming large. 

This inability of the mammalian brain to assess the degree of threat perception, is the cause of modern-day stress response.    It is also the reason why we occasionally have emotional outbursts and why so many of us have chronic illnesses. The body is being continuously primed by hormones to fight or flee. 

The fight or flight response is really our mind acting for our wellbeing. However the end result can be quite the opposite. 

The second factor that determines our mind’s functioning is our Samskaras. The impressions that we gather during our formative years, create our beliefs. What we believe is what becomes our reality. 

These are our booster rockets or our shackles. Depending on what beliefs and habits we water, such will be the flowers and fruits that will grow.

These are the 2 situations when our mind can act in ways that are detrimental to us. One, we are not able to distinguish between a life threatening situation and a social interaction and are unable to bring our conscious thinking brain into play. We fall prey to the amygdala hijack.

Two, we act on the basis on our preprogrammed scripts which are lodged in our subconscious mind.

If we can figure out that we have been gripped by these bondages,   we are unravel them. We can be free to create the life we want. 

But there is a price we must pay. The wise man once said – Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.

If we are to figure of what is going on beneath the surface, we need to live consciously and in awareness. As with so many things in life. That can be either a piece of cake or an ascent up Mt Everest.

We’ll talk about that in an upcoming podcast.