It’s no secret that our brains are super duper computers. I remember being taught in school that we consciously use a very small percentage of our brain power and science certainly hasn’t unravelled all of the mysteries.
What they do know is that our brains take in a lot of information we never need and don’t even use. We are only aware of things that we already have created a “hook” for in our brain.
Someone coined he term deletion creature, because we delete all of the things that aren’t pertinent to us.
We can use this as a super power if we really dive deep into how deletion works. This is one of the keys of meditation. Meditation teaches us how to “delete” on purpose because we are training our brain to focus.
Knowing that we are always deleting, we have to be conscious in our learning. When new information appears, or when a quote or phrase strikes us as important, we need to consciously take it in and watch for how it applies to life.
I will sometimes carry an important piece of wisdom around with me for months in order to deeply understand how it shows up in the world. The more times I can point it out in different scenarios, the more I understand the way it works.
When I read this quote this morning it was one of those moments. This is something I think I had sorted out on a certain level, but I hadn’t ever put words to yet. I think it’s important.
“The most reliable sign, the most universal behavior of unscrupulous people is not directed, as one might imagine, at our fearfulness. It is, perversely, an appeal to our sympathy” – Martha Stout.
I will be watching for examples of this to see how people use sympathy to control and manipulate.