Parallelogram
The mind runs on two parallel tracks.
One is for the everyday business of living. This is the mind that tells you to plug the coffee maker into the socket, and to make sure that the filter has coffee in it before you switch it on. This mind also prevents you from sticking an exploratory finger into the socket and thus turning yourself into a mocha cappuccino. This is the mind that we take for granted and don’t really rate.
In this way, this mind is like the domestic help that comes to clean our homes and dust the sofa. It’s only worthy of consideration when it doesn’t perform, or takes an unannounced weekday off.
The other mind is a little more obscure. It likes to play peekaboo. It peeps in at you when you’re hurtling towards a deadline or sitting on the Metro. It sticks its tongue out at you like an impish child, then quickly hides itself under the sofa when you turn to look. It yanks at your shirttails when you’re giving a public speech, and pokes you in the tummy when you’re trying to fall asleep.
This mind makes you you. It’s what differentiates you from the other homo sapiens that are busy trying to get their morning fix of coffee. And yet, this is the mind that can reduce homo sapiens to homo neanderthalensis in the few minutes that it takes you to turn coffee grounds into caffeinated Nirvana.
The existence, or at least, the separation of the two minds, is controversial. Do we really have this schizophrenic schism in our souls? Do we have souls? What is a soul?
What then, to make of mood swings? What turns Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde when he is confronted with a situation he doesn’t quite care for? What strange climatic anomaly transpires within the amygdala to trigger the anger response?
If you look at the Wikipedia page for amygdalae, take a close look at the helpful drawing indicating their location in the human brain. You’ll see that there’s a strong resemblance to the face of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
The unconscious mind, if we agree for a moment to acknowledge its existence, does indeed have something in common with these sewer-dwelling amphibians.
For a start, both share a deep love for pizza. Though the conscious mind may very conscientiously recommend a medium serving of salad for the mid-day meal, the Turtles and the unconscious mind will both suggest pizza.
Secondly, just like the scrappy, tenacious, and fearless Turtles, the unconscious mind too relishes a fight. Of course, that fight may manifest itself in an inward battle with your lunch rather than outward swordplay, but that’s mere detail.
The unconscious Turtle mind pulls in one direction, while the sensible everyday mind advises caution and discretion. But which is right?
[This is the point where this piece is starting to sound like a Buzzfeed article: “Which Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Are You?”
Or “Eleven Ways In Which Your Brain Is like A Comic Book Character. (Spoiler: I’m Bruce Wayne.)”]
Whether you’re a turtle or a bat, and whether you live under a manhole or inside a man-cave, chances are you’re as schizo as the Caped Crusader. The only question is, which one of your Two Brains dominates your personality more often?
The Everyday Brain controls your actions, but the Turtle Brain governs your future. It’s your actual zodiac sign, more than any cosmic alignment of luminous spheres.
Your astrologer might say that your Piscean nature makes you placid, but in reality, your inner Turtle probably prefers soaking in a hot tub to getting hot under the collar.
So what does one make of this reptilian journey into the psyche? It’s been said that the reason we can’t control our impulses, or that we commit inhuman acts is because our brains have actually retained vestiges of their reptilian ancestors. In the 1960s, American neuroscientist Paul D. MacLean first propounded his triune brain model, where he suggested that the modern human mind consisted of three parts: the reptilian complex, the paleomammalian complex, and the neomammalian complex. According to MacLean, this part of the brain is responsible for “our innate and automatic self-preserving behavior patterns, which ensure our survival and that of our species.”
In other words, it’s the reason we fight, run, and go on dates. [More gory details about all that in the link above.]
MacLean’s theory is often considered an oversimplified explanation of just why our brains (and we) behave the way we do. But according to Wikipedia, that hasn’t stopped many expensive lawyers from effectively using it in jury trials in order to secure convictions. In a nutshell, appeal to the reptilian part of the jury’s mind that is responsible for the survival instincts embedded deep within our heads. Read this.
But of course, here in India we no longer have jury trials. All reptilian manoeuvring must therefore be carried out outside the courtroom.
In our daily lives, depending on our professions and our life situations, the Turtle may dominate, or the more unassuming Everyday Brain.
But it’s the two of them operating in tandem that makes us human.
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