David Brooks, columnist for the New York Times, has written a new book entitled, The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources O Love, Character, and Achievement. I just finished reading it last night and found it to be very interesting. Mr. Brooks did a ton of research about the unconscious mind. His resources were geneticists, neuroscientists, psychologist, sociologist, anthropologist, and many others. He claims that the latest scientific studies indicate that we are not the products of our conscious thinking. We are products of thinking that happens below the level of awareness. The unconscious realm of emotions, intuitions, biases, longings, genetic predispositions, character traits, and social norms are the things that shape are character and motivate us. The unconscious mind does all the work and our conscious will may be an illusion. Maybe Flip Wilson was right, “the devil made me do it”.
Anyway, it is a fascinating theory that seems to prove the importance of passions and perception that are instilled in us by family, friends, and teachers and our beginning environment. “Just as Galileo removed the earth from the center of the universe, this intellectual revolution removes the conscience mind from its privileged place at the center of human behavior. Mr. Brooks has some ideas about what this means for our future. Parents, educators, and political theorist should read this book and pay attention. It is kind of scary but, “we may know more than we know!”
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