America isn’t a great place to live in anymore, and you are largely to blame. I’ll explain in more detail, but first, I want you to play a little brain game. The following video is a perception exercise that simply asks you to count how many times a ball is passed between people. It’s not a trick or a gimmick – they aren’t trying to fool you. Just counting. Ready? Go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo
Did you get it right? Yes? Well good, pat yourself on the back. No? Don’t worry, most everybody gets it wrong. Did you see the gorilla walk through the middle of the shot and pound his chest? Oddly, most people miss this as well.
About a month ago, I was at a workshop in Breckinridge, Colorado hosted by Raven Wells that went into brain science and the complex construction of perception within the human mind. As a group, we were all asked to do this same task, and answers varied from 12 passes to 31 passes. The video was played a second time and we didn’t get any closer to a definitive answer. As a matter of fact, most people got the same number the second time, which only went to convincing them they were “right”, when in reality, they were wrong. On top of that, I was personally baffled that the overwhelming majority of people in the room didn’t see the gorilla on the first viewing. So why was everybody getting different answers, and what does this have to do with how you’re messing up America?
Let’s begin with the Reticular Activation System (“RAS”), something that every one of us has. According to wisegeek.org, ‘the most important function of the RAS is its control of consciousness’. Without diving into a full blown science lesson, the RAS is essentially the brain’s filtering system for stimuli occurring in one’s surrounding environment. When we are awake, the brain is constantly processing billions of data bits (99.9% occurring on an unconscious level), yet our conscious mind (or RAS) is only able to accurately process 7 (+/- 2) bits of all said stimulus (billions) at any given moment (e.g. fantastic “multi-taskers” would be up in the 7, 8, 9 range, whereas if you struggle with multi-tasking, you would probably be in the 3, 4, or 5 range). Now the kicker here, comes in the proven fact that our mind tends to focus on aspects or stimuli that we are individually interested in. An example: when you buy a new car, you start spotting that type of car of the road much more, creating the perception that there are more people driving that car around than you thought before purchasing your vehicle, when in reality, the number is the same, it’s just that your RAS is more attuned to that bit of stimulus because of the important event that occurred in your life.
With that in mind, there’s one other aspect to understand in the equation of how we are all making America a worse place to live: Neuroplasticity, a term that describes lasting change to the brain throughout an individual’s life. Now there’s a myth out there that once we reach adulthood, our brain stops changing and that fundamentally, we are who we are – that while an individual might make small lasting changes in their life, that the foundation of who they really are (their “true colors” if you will) will always remain the same. Simply put, this is false. Neuroscientists have discovered that adults’ brains have the same capability of growing new neurons and connections as younger brains. However, neuroscientists have also discovered that when someone gets “comfortable” with the way they know how to do something, with the way they see the world in relation to themselves, with their own behaviors and routines, their neurons stop growing and regression in dendrite connections actually begins to occur. Here’s an illustration:
These are 4 pictures of dendrites and how they might connect in the human brain. On the far left, we see an individual’s brain (Person A) whose dendrites are not making many connections to each other, nor the world around them. Person A likely lives a very rigid lifestyle with close-minded beliefs and predictable behaviors to situations – a very “black and white” thinker who chooses to “block out” or simply label as “wrong” the information that goes against their beliefs and perception of the world. On the far right, we see an individual’s brain (Person B) whose dendrites display growth and healthy connection with one another and suggest an adept awareness of the world around. Person B likely sees the value of multiple perspectives and questions information with an objective point of view. They are likely to use abstract thinking in situations and in the processing of information.
An example of Person A would be my mother. She and my father divorced twenty-seven years ago and to this day, she believes he has connections to the CIA and no matter what she tries to do with her life, he will find a way to ruin it. He “steals” any money she could make, thus it is useless to work a job. He doesn’t allow her to find a place to live, he’s turned her own family against her, and she threatens her own children’s lives because that would be “the only way to get back at him”. In reality, she never paid her student loans, so the state garnishes wages if she gets a job, and she is in great need of mental health support. Her neuroplasticity is radically stunted, and her RAS interprets the world in a warped way which doesn’t at all resemble the actual reality of what is and has happened around her.
That last sentence is the important one though: ‘Her neuroplasticity is radically stunted, and her RAS interprets the world in a warped way which doesn’t at all resemble the actual reality of what is and has happened around her.’ Unfortunately in America, our culture thrives on “black and white” thinking and we are conditioned by it from such a young age via social media, cartoons, television shows, movies, music, etc. You either believe in God or you don’t. Do you like Pepsi or Coke? Are you a Republican (conservative) or a Democrat (liberal)? This is “right” and that is “wrong”. Are you a cat person or a dog person? And on and on. We live in a culture where the norm is to build stereotypes and pass judgement on others in quick fashion – a learned behavior that badly limits our neuroplasticity and forces our RAS’ to focus only on the aspects in our surrounding environments that go to reinforce our badly retarded and narrow dendrites.
The bottom line: American culture is an assembly line that churns out Person A after Person A. Narrow-minded, simplistic “black and white” thinkers that accept “learned helplessness” for their problems. And this is deliberately designed by the ruling elite. It’s not a new concept; as a matter-of-fact, it’s been happening since the beginnings of organized civilization anywhere in the world. Those with “wealth” create the fundamental building blocks of society (e.g. the “rules” by which those without “wealth” must abide by in order to get a share). Person A typically thrives under such a model as they don’t question the system, or they don’t believe they could change the system even if they desired to, or worse yet, Person A believes the system to be “good” and beneficial to them. The brass tacks of this is the idea that Person A is self-centered or more driven by their unconscious “animal instinct” (as Joseph Campbell would put it) for survival, and because of this, there’s a definite pack mentality. Moral code or acting for the “greater good” become meaningless endeavors in one’s quest to simply exist and survive. Person B, on the other hand, is the one who challenges the pack leader and is quickly ostracized. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that there are very few Person B’s in comparison to Person A’s in American society.
But I want to get back to Raven Wells and the video exercise on perception that he had us perform. Raven’s point in all of this – the RAS, neuroplasticity, and stunting of dendrites – boils down to one simple concept: a narrative. Because in reality, we aren’t as “black and white” as Person A and Person B stereotypes. We have aspects of both in us, but what drives each of our lives is the narrative we want to have. Raven said “the more energy and attention we give to a narrative, story, expectation, belief, etc. – the more it grows, and the more it becomes reinforced within ourselves.” Yes, because of the culture we live in and are conditioned in, we tend to be shaped more in the shadow of polarity and the belief that we need to have polarity in order to feel a sense of self. Instead of questioning the world around us and finding value in all perspectives, Americans tend to only find value in perspectives that align with their own dichotomous beliefs.
Hence the counting video that Raven had everyone perform. You believe it was X number of passes, so when you watch it a second time, you are wanting it to be X number of passes. You didn’t see the gorilla walk through the middle of the shot? Your first thought would be: “No, there wasn’t a gorilla. You’re pulling my chain.” You didn’t see the gorilla because the gorilla wasn’t important to the task you were being asked to perform. Americans don’t generally acknowledge the value in different beliefs or perspectives because it does nothing to validate their own narrow-minded beliefs. Remember, the RAS can only give attention to 7 (+/-) 2 points of stimulus at a time. And this doesn’t just happen on a small moment-to-moment scale. The attention your mind pays to the world around you does the same thing. People tend to only see the world through specific “lenses” (e.g. RAS), and it doesn’t matter what information others may bring forth that challenge those “lenses”. To my mother, my father will always have ties to the CIA and he will always get her fired from her jobs and steal her paychecks, because that is the belief (or narrative) she has built her world around.
There’s no greater evidence of this happening than the Presidential Election that just happened a couple of weeks ago. There’s a large group of people who identify themselves as Republicans and a large group of people who identify themselves as Democrats. And regardless of what denigrating facts emerge about their candidate, they are quick to focus on the other side and what the opposing candidate did that was so despicable instead of acknowledge information that would go against their candidate that somehow, strangely, represents their own identity. And people got really mean about it – treating complete strangers in ways that no moral human being should. And the irony about the whole situation is that neither candidate, in reality, gives two poops about those very people tearing each other to shreds (through words and sometimes, actions). But because the majority of people buy into this societal polarization as a part of their own identity, our culture continues to be a self-absorbing, non-progressive machine, where the elites are elite, and the non-elites are not. Culturally, we need to shift the way perception is taught, but that will remain an impossibility as long as the majority of Americans continue to consciously and unconsciously embrace polarity as a means of building individual identity.
As individuals, we need to shift the way we think about and construct our own narratives for the sake of the larger collective narrative of America which has taken a dastardly turn.