The Reason Why....

Why do we do what we do? What is the reason we do things? What moves us? These are not trick questions but very real questions that confront us on a daily basis. The company I work in, for example, is trying to find ways to improve our work in a wide range of areas. The question of “behavior” arose in the course of the discussions and it seems like there is a hidden key somewhere in this “behavior” concept. To further complicate the matter, we also agreed that we are not intent on become psychologist, even amateur ones, just to try to make a breakthrough in this area. And yet, the question remains; how do we coax our fellow employees into “desirable behavior?”
One consultant who was helping us out on this question was quite candid. In their company, effectively, they “brainwash” their employees. This was his term not mine. This triggered a host of other thoughts in my head. How does one wash a brain? I suppose those who specialize in interrogations techniques might have the answer. However, this led to an even more interesting thought. When we are born, is there already something in our brain or is it empty. Many schools are happy to receive students with the perspective that they have “blank minds” and that their task is to fill these “blank minds” with “knowledge.” Most of us probably grew up in this world where teachers were ready to accuse us of “not knowing anything” whenever we could not come up with the answer. In certain cases, like math for example, this may have even been further aggravated. I suppose that this comment of “not knowing anything” could only arise because the assumption was my brain was empty. Interesting because generally speaking, when the teacher was busy berating me, my mind was quite full of thoughts, ranging from the most un-Christian (usually involving the offending teacher) to having understood the question quite differently. So this would also appear to indicate that I did know something, just not what the teacher wanted at that time.
Could it be possible then that when we are born we actually know things, and I don’t mean instinct, I mean we actually know things. But what use would this be to most of us as babies. We did enjoy being babied so I suppose showing off to our parents how much we already knew would not be particularly helpful. On the other hand, knowing things from birth would help us greatly in achieving certain tasks on earth. Mozart, who changed the face of music, had to be a boy genius to be successful. Otherwise, he would have had to have spent most of his life learning music and not creating. So it must be in the genes we would normally say. I don’t know. How many of Mozart’s immediate relatives could be categorized as geniuses. Clearly, it had to come from somewhere and he had to have it immediately because his musical talent displayed itself at an early age. So I ask again, could it be possible that when we are born we actually know things? Then how could we be so “uneducated” so to speak? It would appear that we are born with a head full of ideas and thoughts but somehow we cannot experience it. Perhaps this is another way of looking at it.
When seen this way, a “brainwashing” approach could have very serious implications. It would mean replacing what we naturally know with something else. Sounds a bit like modern education sometimes. But perhaps the consultant who mentioned this to me meant a different kind of “brainwashing.” Perhaps he meant a cleansing of our brain, the removal of dirt and stains that actually prevent us from seeing what we know. Now there’s a thought. By washing our brains, could it be possible to see more clearly, all that we already know? By washing our brains, could we actually be removing those distractions that prevent us from seeing our thoughts clearly? Perhaps washing our brains is what schools should be doing; removing those obstacles to clear sight and real understanding of the world. We live in a world full of distractions. What we experience through sight alone is more than enough to keep us away from our deepest thoughts. Somehow, washing away these distractions, this garbage of the brain, would allow us to see what we have to really see – our truest thoughts.
If we take this point of view on how our brain works, we might find the key to the reason why we do what we do. It may not be a case of trying to “interpret” the deeds, but rather, understand what hinders the deed. Yes, it is possible we do something not because it was easy but because we were prevented from doing something else. It is not surprising that when we are confronted with a question on why we did something, it is not unusual to reply that we had no choice. And if we pay close attention to the one who makes this remark, one can almost always detect a hint of wistfulness, an irritation that somehow, the freedom to choose an act was denied. And this too is a form of obstacle to understanding the reason why.
Perhaps, in the modern world, we need to understand better how thoughts are revealed to us. That’s right, how they are revealed to us. I personally believe that we are born with everything we have to know; the problem is that I didn’t know that and up to know, there is a lot that I don’t know. Should I really know it all? Selfish and greedy me will say Yes. But what for? Perhaps I only know what I know because I choose to know only these things. Or perhaps, my brain needs a good washing, to clean up the dirt, so that I can see better what I know. Who knows? But this certainly gives me hope that somehow I will experience the world in a different way. Perhaps that’s what matters most.