Wouldn’t it be great to have an understanding of how our minds really work? Here is an explanation that you probably have never heard before but since I have found it to be true in every case, I can only assume it is correct. Feedback is always welcome.

In speaking of the mind we are really talking about the logical workings of it. How the brain physically works is up to the scientist to understand. Our mind is composed of two logical parts the conscious and the subconscious. We can tell this because the subconscious has one function, that is survival. It is exactly how every other species that has a brain operates on the planet. When you look at animals, either wild or domesticated, you will see their mind is geared to only one thing, survival. Humans operate exactly the same way. Our subconscious performs this task by forming survival habits in response to fear, pain, pleasure and need. Fear and pain form almost instant habits while pleasure and need run a close second. We can easily see this everyday when you observe animals or people. The subconscious does not know right from wrong. It doesn’t care. The subconscious also does not have access to stored data, surprise! The subconscious does not need to store data because it stores habits. The subconscious reacts to situations based on stored habits, if it doesn’t have one it will make one up and do its best.

This explains why what appears on the surface to be non-survival goals are actually explainable now. For instance; gambling ones money away. This is connected to pleasure and so a habit forms. The person gets pleasure from gambling. Since the subconscious does not know right from wrong, the person may form a gambling habit and spend all their money on this effort. Which is why you hear many gamblers say it is not the money but the thrill. The same can be understood for smoking and many other habits. The subconscious in its effort to survive will also take the easy way out for any activity it can. You can see this in wild animals as they prey on the most vulnerable and not the strongest. Many of human criminals also have this same trait. I realize this is a shortened version of a description but the feedback on this will get things started.

What does the conscious mind do? It collects data and does analysis. It is also what separates us from every other animal on the planet. Something happened in evolution that caused humans to have a conscious mind. Because of this ability to collect and store data, we have technology. The conscious mind also does not have direct control over the subconscious mind. Under normal operating conditions the two act separately. This is why it is so difficult for habits to be changed no matter how much you tell yourself you want to. There are methods to change any habit but these methods of not known to may people.

There is much more to write but for now I hope to get some discussion going on this if anyone is interested.

I think the subconcious part was telling us the right way but our concious mind was rejecting it. That's what i think...but who knows...like a gambler, they keep on betting because they always think, "I know i'm gonna win...i'm gonna get it ! i could get back the money i lost...only timing i need until they sold everything they have.
" Oh..it's not my day today maybe tomorrow.
The subconcious was telling us to stop but we never listen.

I dont beleive that todays human brain is concerned with survival anymore. We live in a technologically advanced civilisation that has Medicines and Surgical capabilities to fix nearly anything that could happen to us. I beleive the human mind is more concerned now with information, questions, reasoning than it is with survival. For instance take a look at this forum, all entries were made by the result of what the human mind was thinking, and i bet you find many posts from people claiming there life is in danger...

Of Course i wont base survival on forum entries, there is an obvious portion of the world that is concerned with it and there lifes are very much different from yours and mine...

Sometimes i actually wish my life was in danger and my brain was in this survival mode, for only then would i feel truly alive. For the most part of my life i feel like im on auto pilot. My subconcious autopilot.

You are exactly right about the subconscious being on autopilot, it is operating at its best when left to operate on its own. With such a theory about human nature, you have to take a look at the larger picture. Nature has never made a mistake when creating anything on the planet. No animal was ever made imperfect. Given that, humans were designed to fill a slot in nature and we were given the tools to accomplish what we need to do. Like all other animals we had to have a built in survival mode or else we would not survive. Seeing this part in today’s man explains why we do the things we do. Time has not altered other animals survival mode and did not alter ours either. One might think we do not operate in survival mode but almost everything we do is about survival. Survival does not mean your life is in immediate danger, survival means we do things because our subconscious is on autopilot for survival. The way most people eat is a good example of survival, at least here in the U.S. Survival mode also means conserving energy. The more energy an animal conserves the better its chance of survival. That is why animals that prey on other animals go after the most vulnerable and not after the strongest. This explains why the western style diet is so pervasive. It is easy to drive up and pay for your food, you can conserve energy. The subconscious cannot analyze that the food is not good for you in the long term because it does not have the capability to do this. Only our conscious mind can do this.

All of our skills are from the subconscious, how we talk, walk, play games. Any skill we have is from our subconscious. All of this because our subconscious operates in survival mode. This theory explains how human nature works. It is not a question of believing it or not, it is a question of; is it a theory that can explain how we operate. So far the answer has been yes. That is why I posted it here to have smarter people than me poke holes in it.

Yes Habitmaster it would be great to have such an understanding. IMO, it would be a substantial piece of the puzzle of existence IMO BTW, I have never heard of what you posit before but had similar thoughts about a year and a half ago and evolved them since. I was going to poke some holes but thinking about the subject has caused me to go into a tailspin as I try to recollect and organise the logic and reason behind my evolved views. So until I do that I will refrain from any hole-poking.

Cheers & Good Luck

do u think the survival mode has something to do with y some people like the thrill or danger or y some people are adrelin junkies?

Since everything we do either comes from a conscius decision or from the subconscious. I would have to say thrill seeking is a subconscious act. Adrenaline is released into the body to prepare for action. This is a natural(and legal) high and becomes a pleasure habit in the subconscious. Once this does become a pleasure habit, it can be almost impossible to stop unless you know how to change habits in the subconscious. At some point in time I will disclose how to do this but for know I want to get more discussion going on the points sow far discussed.

I hope more folks add their thoughts because this theory on human nature has never been proposed before. Several thoughout history have come close but there have always been many loose ends that did not fit.

One interesting point to make is if we were able to remove the conscious part of the mind, again we are speaking in logical terms not part of the physical brain, we would still be able to function as human like creatures. We would still have the subconscious to operate on and this would be like every other animal on the planet. This may even have been what Neanderthal man was.

The question I have, is what happened to cause us to have this conscious mind? Why didn't it happen to any other animal on the planet if evolution was the cause? There are a only a few choices.

Why didnt it happen in other animals? Its my opinion that it didnt happen in other animals because they are not fundamental to this universe as I beieve we are. Believing in the Anthropic Principle I dont think we are a random mistake. I know that scientists will argue up and down that evolution is a closed system and does not violate the second law of thermodynamics but I just dont buy it. Everything in the universe is moving closer to chaos just as it has since the Big Bang and its a one time good deal from our perspective. Scientists other than physicists also seem to have a problem with accepting that the Newtonian world view is no longer congruent with what we have learned from Quantum Mechanics. I dont think we are a universe of individual parts or individual consciousnesses beyond 4 D spacetime, I believe our consciousness is shared. Animals are probably on that lower plain of existence no more or less important just different, Its my opininon that animals are more like automitons because they lack the quantum consciousness. Having had very close relationships with my animals in my life though Im not completely convinced that all animals lack self awareness. We had a German Shepherd that I swear thought was part of our family. Shew would nudge me to do what she wanted and learned when we started spelling out things we didnt want her to hear like Outside. I think the limit though would be dogs,lower primates, cetations and some birds. I think my mind isnt at peak performance right now so I will close this as Im tired but I will post agin tomorrow. I hope this doesnt look like unorganized gibberish.

Humans are most certainly concerned with their survival...if we weren't we would have absolutely no fears.

As for gambling, most real gamblers just to see the outcome. Gambling is mostly a totaly random sport...and part of the thrill is that you don't know what card is comming next. The people who gamble for the sole purpose to win money are people who are desperate, there not there to play.

i've heard of this in my psychology class. i can't remember exactly which guy discussed this though.. could have been freud? id, ego and superego. Id is our subconscious part, the one that doesn't know what right and wrong is. i forgot the other two.

If we learn how the mind works, this knowledge then changes how the mind works.

Sometimes i actually wish my life was in danger and my brain was in this survival mode, for only then would i feel truly alive. For the most part of my life i feel like im on auto pilot. My subconcious autopilot.
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that quote is one of the best ive heard and as you also maybe feel " like a Zombie in the world of technology" and seem to adapt to most of it , i feel dead inside and only "when in surival mode " i feel alive.

As fascinated as I am by the brain and how it works, I'm not sure if I want to know. On one hand, it would finally answer the age-old question "What were you thinking!?" but on the other hand, do we really want to know just what the nieghbor kid was thinking when he set the house on fire?

It's late and I'm tired, so my brain just shut down for the night. All my brilliant thoughts managed to disappear while I was trying to type.

does ne one think that music has an affect on the brain. like how heavy metal get some people pumped up or how sports or just plain competiveness brings out the more basic instincs in people and the drive to be better than everyone.