Page 208 - Ray Dalio - Principles

spirituality (the rising above oneself to feel a greater connection to the whole) but that each
religion adds its own different superstitions on top of that common feeling of spirituality.
Rather than trying to squeeze my own summary of his thinking in here, I’ll simply recommend
the Dalai Lama’s book, Beyond Religion, if you’re interested in learning more.
In imagining what the future of our thinking will be like, it’s also interesting to consider
how man himself might change how the brain works. We are certainly doing that with drugs
and technology. Given advances in genetic engineering, it’s reasonable to expect that someday
genetic engineers might mix and match features of different species’ brains for different
purposes—if you want to have a heightened sense of sight, say, genetic engineers might be
able to manipulate the human brain so it grows optic lobes more like those of birds. But since
such things won’t happen anytime soon, let’s get back to the practical question of how all this
can help us better deal with ourselves and each other.

4.3 Understand the great brain battles and how to control
them to get what “you” want.

The following sections explore the different ways your brain fights for control of “you.” While
I will refer to the specific parts of the brain that neurophysiologists believe are responsible for
specific types of thinking and emotions, the actual physiology is much more complex—and
scientists are only beginning to understand it.
a. Realize that the conscious mind is in a battle with the subconscious mind. Earlier in the book, I introduced
the concept of the “two yous” and explained how your higher-level you can look down on your
lower-level you to make sure that your lower-level you isn’t sabotaging what your higher-level
you wants. Though I’ve often seen these two yous in action in myself and others, it wasn’t
until I learned why they exist that I really understood them.
As with animals, many of our decision-making drivers are below the surface. An animal
doesn’t “decide” to fly or hunt or sleep or fight in the way that we go about making many of
our own choices of what to do—it simply follows the instructions that come from the
subconscious parts of its brain. These same sorts of instructions come to us from the same
parts of our brains, sometimes for good evolutionary reasons and sometimes to our detriment.
Our subconscious fears and desires drive our motivations and actions through emotions such as
love, fear, and inspiration. It’s physiological. Love, for example, is a cocktail of chemicals
(such as oxytocin) secreted by the pituitary gland.
While I had always assumed that logical conversation is the best way for people to get at
what is true, armed with this new knowledge about the brain, I came to understand that there
are large parts of our brains that don’t do what is logical. For example, I learned that when
people refer to their “feelings”—such as saying “I feel that you were unfair with me”—they
are typically referring to messages that originate in the emotional, subconscious parts of their
brains. I also came to understand that while some subconscious parts of our brains are
dangerously animalistic, others are smarter and quicker than our conscious minds. Our greatest
moments of inspiration often “pop” up from our subconscious. We experience these creative
breakthroughs when we are relaxed and not trying to access the part of the brain in which they
reside, which is generally the neocortex. When you say, “I just thought of something,” you
noticed your subconscious mind telling your conscious mind something. With training, it’s
possible to open this stream of communication.

Many people only see the conscious mind and aren’t aware of the benefits of connecting it
to the subconscious. They believe that the way to accomplish more is to cram more into the
conscious mind and make it work harder, but this is often counterproductive. While it may
seem counterintuitive, clearing your head can be the best way to make progress.
Knowing this, I now understand why creativity comes to me when I relax (like when I’m in
the shower) and how meditation helps open this connection. Because it is physiological, I can
actually feel the creative thoughts coming from elsewhere and flowing into my conscious
mind. It’s a kick to understand how that works.