Contradictions

Contradictions

In our previous post, we learned that we’re not just one brain, but several. An instinctive, a moving, an intellectual and an emotional brain. These brains are referred to as functions or centers. The centers are divided into positive and negative halves. Neither one is better than the other, it's simply how they function.

For the instinctive center it’s pleasure or pain, or the lack of pleasure / lack of pain. Satiety or hunger, safety or danger. Textures and tastes are perceived by the instinctive center. Smooth or rough, sweet or bitter, hot or cold.

For the moving center, movement or rest is its world. From ballet to bricklaying, from watchmaking to weed-whacking, it's the moving center that does the work.

For the intellect, it's either / or, ‘yes’ or ‘no’. There’s a part of the intellectual center that cannot go beyond this - and is not meant to - yet many people make important decisions from this part of the intellect.

The emotional center is a little different. Positive emotions vs. negative emotions. This would seem a simple division, but the emotional center doesn’t quite work like this. Yes, we love someone until they do or say something we don’t like or disagree with and then we don’t love them. But a study of attitudes and opinions reveals that we can like and dislike the same person or experience from one breath to the next.

When we say ‘I’ in relation to likes and dislikes it’s the emotional center that says it, yet, the other centers condition this center, so ‘I’ is a conglomerate rather than a single unified entity. For example, the emotional center agrees and commits to attending an evening event. But the instinctive and moving centers have to get up at 5AM for a day’s work.

The emotional center says ‘I love you’ and in the next moment the instinctive center becomes irritated at how its ‘beloved’ chews their food. The intellectual center perfectly describes the ionic compound with the chemical formula NaCl, representing a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions, when the simple syllable ‘salt’ is all that’s needed.

The emotional center becomes hysterical at the sight of blood, when all that might be required is a band-aid.

Given the contradictions that occur within us, it’s no surprise that there’s so much misunderstanding between people. There are other easily observable contradictions. Self-remembering is the key to seeing them. When we begin to remember ourselves and observe the different functions and how they operate, an organic balance of centers begins. Then the probability of maintaining a higher state of consciousness enters and the whole picture changes.

Do I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself! ~ Walt Whitman

Charles R

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Image: Janus Head, Silver Coin (3rd c. AD, Roman)