THEORETICAL
ASPECTS OF
THOUGHT
PROCESSING AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE
By S . D . MEHENDALE ( March 2005)
This
essay focuses on various aspects of the
titled theme, as I see it. The deliberations are neither listing other authors’
elaborations nor an exhaustive and comparative treatment of the subject. All
the thoughts are as they occurred to me. You may also read my relevant essays
on some of the sub-topics for my detailed views ( Thought processing,
Perception, Vaisarth, Practical lessons for behavioral improvement, Tips for behavioral improvements
available on internet in my website:< geocities.com/sdmdom/index.html >
(home page) and inlaid pages of the website:
<geocities.com/sdmdom/a.htm> and
also …b.htm, c.htm, d.htm, e.htm, f.htm, g.htm ).
Various sub topics discussed here are:
1.FIVE MAJOR ASPECTS OF BEHAVIORAL
SCIENCE
(
Discussed in detail in my essay “ Tips for behavioral improvement”)
a. REVIEW: Review of self,
society, religious, economic, health, scientific views is necessary on an
ongoing basis for improvements.
b. OPENNESS: Openness is required to improve awareness,
consciousness, adaptability, desire to inspect new ideas, adoption of new
ideas. This will open flood gates of improvement.
c.DILOGUE: This is the greatest tool to seek information, give
counseling to needy, identifying strengths/ weaknesses/ requirements of self
and others, improving awareness and being a constructive part of society.
d.NAK
DABLE KI TOND UGHADATE: To make
stubborn understand and implement good advice, corner them, shut their nose to
open their mouth. Polite advice, counseling, don’t help sometimes. In such
difficult cases, you have to force them ,their back to wall and nowhere to run
. Solely at your mercy, they follow your advice.
e.SURVIVAL: Is the greatest driving factor for human behavior.
Inherent knowledge, acquired knowledge, and training usually come in play
before one acts. These become secondary factors giving way to the sense of
survival when pushed into a corner and existence is challenged.
2. NEGATIVE ATTITUDES, CONDITIONS.:
These
are the best teachers. Be grateful to negatives. Only positives will not be
able to impart effective training. Negatives activate SURVIVAL, the greatest
thought processing and action director. Hence negatives are forceful teachers.
After-
reactions to negative experiences can be
two:
i)
Learn not to
practice negatives and restrict others practicing negatives. This is a healthy
reaction after judicious thought processing. Roots of such reaction are traced
to exposure to positives earlier.
ii)
Instead of
restricting negatives, you may turn more and more negative. Thus, you practice
negatives if not exposed to positives at all.
iii)
Thus
nurturing in positive atmosphere and some exposure to negatives is best
combination as a teacher.
3. BAP KA MAAL: High handedness taking others for granted is absent
in First Generation Politicians, Social workers, Businessmen. They are aware of
team mates, co-workers. Hence these colleagues are respected and positive
outcomes are shared with them.
Second
generation and onwards, all this sense of belonging fades. Accountability
responsibility and awareness for others decreases. They forget that they are
standing on others’ shoulders. They think that they only are owners and makers
of all the booty and have right to squander it or siphon to personal coffers.
All this is bad.
To
reduce this attitude, exposure to negatives to stimulate SURVIVAL director is
necessary.
4. THOUGHT PROCESSING ( TP) :
Analysis,
comparison, modeling various solutions, all using your knowledge helps you
arrive(TP) at the best action plan. Other tools for TP are: Thinking out of
box, Dreaming solutions, Altogether different and unconventional approach. The mind takes into account all positive and
negative thoughts.
Important
help for good TP is having arranged all TP tools systematically in your mind,
facilitating easy and instant retrieval. ( not different than hand tools!)
Help
of physical props like Listing, sketching, computer search also come handy for
effective TP.
Need
of language, visuals etc. for TP are already discussed in my essay on TP (
geocities.com/sdmdom/d.htm)
5. EXERCISE / TRAINING:
Needed
for uplifting humans. Everybody needs Training and related regular exercise for
improving on the following factors:
Every
one is not able to decide how to train himself. Hence an efficient counselor /
SADGURU is necessary to guide. ( For detailed discussion, read tips for
behavioral improvement < geocities.com/sdmdom/g.htm> )
6. POSSESSIVENESS:
This
evil is at the root of many negative experiences. When an American president (
150 years back) offered to purchase land from Red Indians, their chief replied
, “The land cannot be sold because the land
and nature don’t belong to us; rather we people belong to the land, nature and its beauty and
enormity.” This is a great eye opener.
Animals
have limited or no storage. They are not as possessive as humans. Human TP and
manipulating skills help breed possessiveness. Possessiveness breeds more
possessiveness. Possessiveness is good to a limit. Beyond that it becomes
‘Hoarding’ which is bad for society. Hence one should become a Trustee and not
an Owner.
Possessiveness
of humans i.e. relations, friends, leads to ‘love’ , love affairs, and many
concomitant problems like Partiality, Degradation of human freedom (especially in case of women).
Possessiveness of land, property, cars, houses, etc., money, power, breeds
greed and resultant negatives.
Hence,
do not hoard/stock. Build dams on rivers only big enough to hold part of the
water . Supply the held water to land by canals. – keep it flowing. –do not stagnate. Sea is
also not stagnant . The water flows by evaporation / cloud formation. All
celestical bodies are not steady. They keep moving. Hence keep everything
moving –money, electricity, water, air, food, everything! You may also change food habits rotationally,
change your residence periodically, taking you out of comfort zone. Keep
moving, reduce possessiveness and related evils.
7. EVOLUTION / REVOLUTION:
Evolution is slow. Revolution is fast and acute. Evolution:
inputs, results and requirements go on slowly equilibrating . Some examples are
conversion of Ape to human, higher organisms from lower ones, Actives from
inactives via amino acids, etc.. Social structure also evolves by equilibrating
current values, needs of tomorrow and available resources. Creation of ACTIVES
(Animals, herbs) from INACTIVES ( elements, earth, water, etc , is also
evolution.
Natural
revolutions are earth quakes, volcanic eruptions, global warming,
asteroids-hits, typhoons, tsunamis, etc. Social revolutions are are created by
people viz: Hitler, Czar, industrial progress, etc.
Both
natural and social factors give rise to various revolutions and evolutions.
Social/ technical revolutions are resented as it is always difficult to clean
the slate before new lesson. Natural revolutions are also not liked but cant
work against tremendous natural forces!
8. ULTIMATE AIM OF ACTIVES( ANIMATED) /
INACTIVES( INANIMATE):
Humans
if act just like any animal, it is OK. Using TP, if they want to excel over
animals, a warning bell is sounded. TP should be positive ,wholesome and
synergizing with natural evolution. TP coupled with negative attitude, will
lead to destruction. TP used to unravel process of routine happenings and
natural evolution is nothing but development of Science. Applied science is to
study nature and use the knowledge for technical revolutions. Hence Science is
not contrary to nature.
Negative
attitudes and TP combination should be discouraged. Then it is better to behave
only as an animal to avoid nuisance. With this in mind, all are free to behave
as they feel, without developed TP. At least they wont harm the texture of
society. Natural evolution will take care of all, even if some do not
contribute for betterment and stay neutral.
This
attitude will pacify ‘Anger’ of those against people not responding to
training.
9. TAPASYA:
To
heat is tapasya.
i)
Heating to
enable bending, shaping, forging.
ii)
Heating to melt
, alloy and recast into desired mould.
Tapasya
will help change / transform partially or totally. Activating Survival mode to
teach adamant subjects by pushing them to a corner is one way to transform
stubborn. Tapasya is an alternative for all cases simple or difficult. A deep
Tapasya will transform a Valya Koli to Walmiki.
Initially
one can give up some food intakes like tea, coffee, icecream, or shun viewing
TV, wearing some type of clothes, etc. for a specified time. This will start
chiseling you in a small way. If continued longer, you will see a new sculpture
very soon. Consult your Guru for taking up a Tapasya.
10. SELF REALISATION:
Learned
persons say it is to be experienced only. It cannot be explained. I feel this
must be explainable partly if not fully. The percentage of explainable part
will slowly increase. Same was the case with many riddles in life sciences and
other faculties. Slowly it is becoming possible to explain and quantify many
riddles. With measurements of energy
involved in description, quality and quantity, reproduction of many brain
activities of ‘Siddha purush’ , can be studied, unraveled and reproduced
mechanically.
11. LIFE, DEATH, REBIRTH:
In
fact, you go through this cycle daily. Each night is like death. Each morning
is like rebirth. Take this daily chance to improve yourself. And your relations with others. Get up in the
morning like an innocent child and enjoy the life anew!
Apart
from this daily cycle, you also experience a longer cycle , say : few months or
few years! This is when you see somebody after that long a time. He may be liked
or disliked by you at the end of last meeting. After a long period, let the
relations take a rebirth- innocently like a child! Make friends and enjoy .
Both will understand that any bitterness of the past is dead and each one has
faced a life with celebrations. Then why continue animosity? Laugh it off and
be friends , start life anew, with the maturity you have gained during the
recess!
12. NEW THOUGHTS:
a.
Practising Kriya yoga,
pranayama, sadhanas , one achieves various Siddhis. For this practice, they
observe ‘Indriya Nigraha’ , perhaps to fully concentrate on capabilities of
mind. Many people achieve siddhis, by mere will or no Sadhana. Since Indriyas
are part of one’s self, one may also be able to achieve Siddhi without Indriya
Nigraha. ( Osho ?)
b. Many sadhakas practice sadhana
inHimalayas. Pranayama trains body to use less oxygen. In Himalayan heights,
oxygen is lesser in atmosphere. Mere staying there and acclimatizing might be
giving a higher dimension to Pranayama sadhana.The cool weather also increases
sustenance of body and perhaps difficult
sadhanas may be little easier to achieve there.
c. It is more pertinent to reclassify ‘Live and Lifeless ‘ as ‘Active and
Inactive’. The well sunk concept of ‘ life =
body + soul’ is rather hypothetical
, soul signifying ‘chaitanya’ or activity. The concept of soul (chaitanya)
needs review and it is not a constituent of of life but merely a property of
life. Hence everybody comes in this world for one use only and at the end,
vanishes into earth. This concept is elaborated in my essay’ Vaisarth’ < geocities.com/sdmdom/c.htm>
d. Faith and doubt both are required for progress. Experimentation and
analysis installs any faith. Practice of faith raises further doubt by activating
‘Review’ after a time. The doubt needs more experimentation and analysis to
clarify and rewrite new concepts on a firm ground. Thus Faith and Doubt are
complimentary and carry on the progress continuously.
13. SIDDHIS AND MODERN GADGETS.:
a. Sanjaya had ‘door drishti’. Now we have television, videophone, mobile
phone. In the light of this example, various siddhis may be explained
scientifically and mimicked by modern gadgets.
b. Persons appearing at a distance . . . something like human transfers in ‘Startreck’. This may
be mechanically possible one day!
c.Curing diseases by transferring energy wirelessly can also be practiced
when energy transfers are studied and reproduced.
d. Activating computers and machines by mere thought is almost achieved now , may be with electrodes
attached to scalp. Refining this method and wireless versions are on cards.
e. There are examples of persons living without food and water and living
merely by taking solar energy. Doctors are studying this.
f. Can oxygen parlours replace some ‘ Pranayama kriyas’?
14. CREATOR /OWNERSHIP, ETC.:
These
concepts arise due to natural training of mind in our society and we accept
that everything has a creator and owner. To get over these concepts you must
unlearn the age old training of our minds . Then only you can think out of the
box and overcome the default- concepts of creator and ownership. These are
outcome of Possessiveness, which must be dropped. TP with these fixed parameters in mind will
lead nowhere. Hence one must not only think but dream and discover newer
dimensions of TP .
Concept
of flowing ‘time’ also is a fixed dimension in our mindset needing review.
Linear time measurement is only a matter of convenience. We get carried away by
flowing or passing time which is mere hypothetical. Time does not move. We move
in time dimension. Time is just another dimension of space like length, breadth
and depth. This is what physicists have enunciated and proved.
We
know that Earth moves around Sun and also rotates around her axis creating day
and night. Yet we daily talk about sunrise and sunset. This just a matter of
convenience of expression. We may term it as ‘HUMAN THEATRICAL EFFECT’ . Same
is true of human philosophies which are woven around this ‘Human Theatre’.
Hence we think of Body, Soul, Paramatma, etc..If you come out of this ‘human
theatre’, and try to unravel nature, the study is termed as ‘Science’ and treated
as ‘Outcast’ by those living inside ‘human theatre’. Science is nothing but art of elucidation of
nature and a go at harnessing the knowledge for progress by ‘Revolution’(of
Technology) rather than waiting for a slower ‘Evolution.’
15. VASTNESS OF UNIVERSE AND BEYOND:
Stars,
planets, galaxies—unlimited! Black holes gulping stars and giving rise to
Galaxies. What a mammothness of masses , energies, spaces and distances! The vastness is unending and unimaginable! Can you have a God to take care
of all these? Or rather you need to reconsider this concept?
Also
consider earthly catastrophes like hitting by asteroids, typhoons, tsunamis,
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, volcanic dust covering earth atmosphere for 6
years causing a great global warming and long night! ( This has happened) All
these leading to destruction, cleaning the slate, starting everything anew –
several times – is the history!
Will
one untiring everlasting creator be able to take care of all this vastness and
destructions and reformations!
As
pointed out in “creator-ownership “ paragraph, perhaps possessiveness gives
rise to this line of thinking! We always
expect everything with ‘Boundaries’, and
‘Ownership’. Such concepts may be fallacious. Physicicts might have got the
answer to clarify / modify concepts of Creator and Boundaries. Perhaps they are
close to have a tangible explanation!
PRACTICAL
LESSONS IN BEHAVIORAL IMPROVEMENT
By S. D . MEHENDALE ( March, 2005)
After
writing ‘ Hints for Behavioral improvements’ , and ‘ Theoretical aspects of Thought Processing’ (
<geocities.com/sdmdom/f.htm> and
….g.htm ), the present effort is to provide you with Practical lessons for
improvements suggested in other two essays. The types of lessons and lessons
within a type are not exhaustive and certainly not the last word. I am
presenting this preliminary work for your benefit right now!
Some of the principles underlying the
practicals are listed below:
A.
Doing a
thing repeatedly develops a liking for it . Then one follows the technique even
unconsciously.
B.
Exercise,
Pranayama, Meditation, are beneficial in general and increase alertness,
freshness, enthusiasm.
C.
Faith in
your Guru or somebody reduces your fear and helps accept any challenge.
D.
Do not
become slave of habits. Habits of sitting place, sleeping place, working place,
eating styles, etc. must not overcome you. They limit your performance. Hence
make it a point to periodically change your comfort zones at will . Do not make
them a habit.
E.
Tapasya is a
method of teaching you to change habits. Give up some habits for a week: viz:
viewing TV, using telephone, driving car/bike, drinking tea/coffee. Depending
on the degree of difficulty involved, you can be repaired, changed,
transformed.
F.
Auto
suggestion is best practiced under light hypnosis. Analyse yourself and
identify three or four of your major weaknesses. Plan how you will slowly
improve on these counts. Daily at a serene time ( early morning) do ‘Shavasana’
, lying down on back, relax your body and mind. Close your eyes. From feet to
head, ask yourself part by part to relax (feet, legs, torso, hands, neck, head,
mind ). You can listen to a soft pacifying
music, preferably a Sur vadya and Flute only. Have dim lights. Do not
make particular effort to make your mind thoughtless. Relax, chant a mantra
silently (
G.
‘Do a corner
first! Whole of the home will go right automatically. ‘ Use this principle to
start any large scale improvement. Aim only at attacking a small part and do it
well. Your confidence and enthusiasm will multiply and help complete the whole
job. Never aim at redoing the whole thing in one go. You may crash!
Suggested experimental lessons can be
broadly categorized as follows:
1.
COMING OUT OF COMFORT ZONE.
Try
to CHANGE the following for a few days:
Try a few.
Ø
Usual sitting /
reading chair / place.
Ø
Sleeping place
(near window / away from fan /etc) / mattress / direction(NE / SW etc)
Ø
Lighting in
room-using bulbs/ tube lights/viewing TV in dim lit room/lights at dining table
Ø
If taking lunch
to work place , eat outside in canteen, for seven days.
Ø
Do not use
telephone on a Sunday.
Ø
Do not see TV on
Friday, Saturday,
Ø
Instead taking a
cab, walk back home from station for 7 days.
Ø
Make your own
tea in the evening for 7 days.
Ø
Do not drink tea
-7days.
Ø
Change your
residence for 7 days (stay at friend’s /relative’s place and commute to work
from there.
Ø
Go for an outing
to a remote place and stay in a tent, -no electricity-no telephone/mobile,-no
piped water—try 3 days with 1 or 2 companions.
Ø
Cook your own breakfast-7 days.
Ø
Wash your
clothes-7 days.
These
trials will help change your attitude for better.
2. THOUGHT PROCESSING (TP) ACTIVATION:
Many
times we do a thing without analysis, evaluation, sensing involved hurdles, etc. If you practice TP,
very soon, the answers/ pitfalls will start flashing in your mind. We tend to
jump to conclusions/ actions which are sometimes oversimplified. We concentrate
on small gains and let go big ones. Then repenting! Hence train yourself to do
TP.
Try a few of the following and design your
own experiments.
3.
ADAPTABILITY ACTIVATION:
One
must be able to adapt to changed situation. One must be able to have openness
to accept a new idea. At least will to inspect it if not practice! The best
help is to do ambidextrous exercises / activities. Exercise involving movements
of feet and hands- changing R & L
limb combinations at will. You can design your own. March on the spot moving L
hand with R leg and R hand with L leg. Then change to move L hand with L leg
and R hand with R leg. Keep on changing at will after say 2 sets, then after 4
sets, then after each set , etc at random but at will. Many such movements are
possible. You may combine leg kicks with hand punches. Try to eat, write with L
hand( with R hand for lefties.) Try to walk backwards looking at a distant
object. Do this in open lawn to avoid accident. These exercises will activate L
& R brain to catalyze creativity and adaptability.
Try
some from below:
ü
Wear a cap -7
days ( if wearing daily, remove-7 days)
ü
If wearing
tucked in shirt, don’t tuck in -7 days. ( reverse for reverse)
ü
Change favorite
drink ( tea / coffee / rasam) -7 days
ü
Eat disliked
vegetable twice a week for a month.
ü
Do not shave – 7
days.
ü
Take bath only
in evening - 7 days.
ü
Do not use
mobile phone—7 days.
ü
Clean a stretch
of road in front of your house –7 days.
ü
If going to
office daily on time, go 30 min late –twice a week- one month.( if going late
daily, go in time twice a week)
ü
Try other tricks
from “coming out of comfort zone”
4.
CONSCIOUSNESS AND AWARENESS ACTIVATION.
You
must closely observe yourself as a third
party. List your short comings, and strengths. Try to improve on your
weaknesses . You might have to improve on your appearance, health, clothes,
speech, expression. You can consult any specialist viz. doctor, speech
therapist, fitness instructor, etc. But to do all that you must develop
awareness. Visit <geocities.com/sdmdom/g.htm> Try the following:
5.
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS.
It
is better to visit a club, participate in team sports. Take lessons in some
hobby – singing / painting /trekking .
Form clubs / groups of persons with common hobbies. Join Satsang, Bhajans. Keep
smiling. In any of these groups, three persons to form a sub group . Each one
to tell his life story to other two in 10 minutes. Each one to ask other two ,
questions and discuss their problems/ successes.
Try
a few of the exercises , below:
6.
STOP WORRYING.
It
is easy to preach than practice. But you must start somewhere. Do not take on
big worries first. Take up a small worry like planning a week end – picnic.
Members are husband, wife, two children. You are expert in planning. Plan the
day, time, vehicle, place to visit, eatables, dresses, first aid, play kit,
special supplies, bathing costumes. Inform all members, tell them their
responsibilities. Get everybody to work
as per plan in the week end. Do not excuse anybody. No impatience! Schedule to
be sticked to. Schedule will reduce your worry. A little flexibility can be
exercised. Don’t give concessions in advance. You must develop confidence in
all members and in yourself also! You have successfully arranged so many trips
in past. Then you wont fail now. Convince yourself. You always keep contingency
plans ready for critical things-like vehicle and driver.
Sticking
to a strategy helps. Be in the Present. Do not imagine future disarrays.
Address the present and be in present tense. Slowly you can extend your
strategies – well designed for larger jobs.
In
case of a problem, breath deeply by belly few times. You will cool down. Always
use a trick like a whistle or a ‘chutki’ or clap to make you come to the present (away from
imaginary problems). This helps in long run. Have faith in somebody, say Guru,
who will always help you even if physically absent on the spot. This is a
confidence building measure and a psychological help.
LESSER WORRIES – LESSER MEDICINES – BETTER
HEALTH!
7.
CONTROL IMPATIENCE.
Impatience
is expectation to finish a task immediately. Impatience occurs due to lack of
confidence in others and self. Although you have done a job yourself several
times, either by yourself or as a team,, lack of confidence leads to
impatience. Impatience breeds worry. To put an end to this vicious cycle, you
must plan in detail, every job with responsibilities assigned and step wise
time limits set. Provide for meeting possible contingencies. You must plan for a
day, months, and years ahead. This eliminates last minute hurries. Have
alternative plans for critical steps ready. The plans can be flexible, but then
at such times, reorganize time tables and inform everybody and ensure their
readiness. Don’t assume anything, don’t take anybody for granted. Clear road
maps and detailed procedures always help. Don’t ridicule such efforts. Always
clap and ‘come to the present’. When you
concentrate on job in front with your 100%, time becomes immemorial!
Some
Tips:
v
Daily practice
Autosuggestion. ( outlined earlier)
v
Recite a
‘Shloka’ uttering one word / syllable in one breath. ( try “Shantakaram
Bhujagashayanam-“..-) This will slow down your pace and remedy impatience.
v
Also try reading
a text letter by letter (preferably vernacular) , not word by word. This will
sound abnormal but helps reduce pace.
v
Any
meditation helps. Learn from a teacher.
8. PUSHING TO WALL.
This
is an extreme technique to be used when normal means of counseling fail. Since
survival is the strongest director of human actions, create a dramatic scene
where the subject will be forced to follow desired directions. Be careful while
doing this as the subject should not get harmed, undergoing this. Controlled
atmosphere is desirable. Those who do not listen normally have to be pinched
their nose to make them open mouth. This is a psychological vaccination.
Some trials are suggested below.
Ø
Cut down
allowances if a goal is not reached. In time.
Ø
Ask the subject
to voluntarily abstain from consuming his favorite dish till goal is achieved.
Ø
If things are
thrown helter skelter , as a habit, pick up wrongly put things and put under
lock. There will be books, watches, goggles, purses.
Ø
To cut down late
coming habit, don’t serve any dinner on such occasions.
If
you have better exercises, please let me know ( [email protected])
9.
REDUCING BAP KA MAAL ATTITUDE.
This
attitude is observed in people getting to reign on legacy acquired by ancestors
– may be permanently (Private property, company) or for few years (
politicians, employees ). They forget their predecessor’s efforts to to put up
the establishment. The efforts also belonged to relatives, friends, employees,
equity holders. All these contributors are taken for granted and fleeced. There
are two varieties: i) Those who grab everything , don’t give to others, spend
only for getting power. ii) Spend recklessly, with no look at balance sheet,
and future growth.
The
requirement of remedy is: To invoke responsibility towards all contributors -past
and present, future growth, ,
conservation, generating satisfactory returns for all, legal and moral rights
of stake holders.
Possibly
here are some ways out:
If
you have better exercises, please let me know ( [email protected])
10.
REPETING MISTAKES
Learning
by mistakes is ok. But mistakes need not
be repeated. Repetition of mistakes is natural trait until the compensation is
not high or your account is not debited. Mistakes inviting small fine or casual
reprimand are always repeated by non sensitive persons.
Try
some experiments:
ü
Daily write down
mistakes of the subject . Point out repeated mistakes. Discuss with subject.
ü
Subject to
discuss these with counselor , make commitment not to repeat. Decide a mutually
acceptable fine, heavy enough to feel.
ü
Put Rs.10 per
repeated mistake into a piggy bank.
ü
Open the bank
after 3 months in front of all members pf family and give them a treat!
ü
Try your own
methods to generate awareness of reputing mistakes.
ü
Rather than a
fine, try any abstinations ( from ‘coming out of comfort zones’)
Visit < geocities.com/sdmdom/g.htm> for” Tips
on behavioral improvements”