Arquivo de psychology | Page 18 of 19

Desire: the Cancer of the Human Psyche

It is possible to find rational justifications for denying the solutions proposed by the Stoics, the Buddhists, Schopenhauer and many others. But there is a universal truth, present also in Christian philosophy, concerning desire: it is the plague, the cancer of the human psyche, the endless source of frustrations. And if, after careful psychological analysis, we decide to pluck it out at its root, plucking each of our hopes with a hoe, we get rid of an immense, malignant and harmful burden. The problem is that the human being lives on dreams, supports reality in the hope of a better future. To exterminate it, therefore, is to make life lose its brightness, is to give line to indifference, is to deny nature itself, is self-mutilation. Well, that seems to be the way to peace.

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Force the Brain

Extremely useful exercise: force the brain, whip it. I say and imagine myself in front of the original Latinos. At first, the sensation of useless effort; then persistence, obsession: and words, forced, fill themselves with meaning. The technique is not new, much less original; useful from strange languages to texts of abstract essence. The brain seems to reward insistence, to work on the basis of punches, coercion. And if, in its vertiginous flow of ideas, it can often get in our way, when bound, compelled, it works tastefully on our behalf.

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Inspiration: Conscious Brain Stimulation

I read somewhere, a few years ago, a psychologist said that Bertrand Russell used an interesting process when he was involved in complex problems. It would be more or less as follows: Russell thought, with maximum concentration and strength of mind, on the particular problem; he outlined the possible solutions, dismembered them into minor issues, formulated various hypotheses and tried to find, in all, the possible flaws. The question occupied him entirely for hours, sometimes days, and then, when he felt exhausted, he did not publish, nor executed the final wording of his conclusions: he abandoned the problem and let him rest, occupying his mind with anything else. Then, after a few days, weeks or months, suddenly the mind pointed the solution, which came as a violent avalanche, and so Russell sat down to write. What would that be, inspiration? If that is the word, then it is necessary to add that there is nothing divine, fantastic, or superhuman about it. What is there is method, conscious brain stimulation. And if the brain, therefore, sometimes does not deliver an immediate response, it does not mean that it does not work, or that it is not working. In the same way, when it decides to boil at an inopportune moment, it is not doing any kind of magic or exhibiting supernatural powers…

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Mysteries of the Human Psyche

Why does the mind always boil when we lie down? Why just in need of rest the mind insist in thinking about the last truths, planning everything, wanting to pass the ruler over life? Why does deeper rumination always occur in the absence of the sun? Why does consciousness always, like a bat, choose the night to wake up? Mysteries… Mysteries that accredit insomnia as driver of intellectual life —and, of course, accredit the bad mood in the mornings…

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