Chapter 5 - Rational Thinking

Chapter 5 of Psycho-Cybernetics is about using rational and logical conscious thinking to change negative beliefs into positive, working ones.

The automatic mechanism that human beings have is also what Sigmund Freud calls the "unconscious". This unconscious mind has no will of its own. It only acts accordingly to your present ideas and beliefs concerning yourself and your relation to the environment. The unconscious only works with the information you give it in the form of ideas and "goal-pictures".

The conscious mind is the "control knob" of the unconscious/automatic mechanism. If the conscious mind is feeding negative thoughts and ideas into the unconscious, the unconscious will develop negative patterns subsequently. It is the conscious mind's job to filter out what is rational and irrational. Most of our negative thoughts and emotions are irrational by nature anyways. So it is by applying rationality that we can rid of negative thoughts.

The late Dr. John A. Schindler who worked at the Monroe Clinic has formula for changing people's lives for better. One of his key methods for changing people's lives was through what he called "conscious thought control". To make use for "conscious thought control", one must begin from the present and begin to develop new ways of looking at old problems and begin to acquire useful habits. The reason why some people are so used to negative beliefs is because they have either forgotten or never realized that they have the ability to control their present thinking to produce a life of enjoyment.

All skills are acquired by trial and error. It begins with having an end goal in mind and having a trial and making an error on the way. This error is remembered for the next trial so that it can auto-correct itself until the goal is reached or accomplished. When the goal is finally accomplished, it is burned into memory on how it got there and it is recalled into memory when faced with a similar trial. All servo-mechanisms function this way. All servo-mechanisms store memories of errors, failures and negative experiences. These past failures in memory contribute to the learning process and are used as "negative feedback data". The "negative feedback data" will tel the servo-mechanism that it is off-course and will then the servo-mechanism will auto-correct itself towards the goal. Once the error is corrected, the error will be consciously forgotten and the attaining of the goal will be "dwelt upon".

All errors, mistakes and errors are absolutely necessary in the learning process. The errors are the "means to the end", and not the end in themselves. When the errors have served their purpose, we should move on. If we mistakenly dwell on the errors and keep thinking about them, the error will become the "goal" that the automatic mechanism will strive for. This is why in Psycho-Cybernetics it is not advised to dwell on past mistakes because it will affect your success mechanism.

To effectively change beliefs, rational thought must be accompanied by powerful emotions and desire. The constant repetition of thoughts and possibilities will cause the arousal of the emotions that will make the desired goal more and more attainable.

Worry, for an example, is an idea that things will go wrong and it is always accompanied by irrationality and negative emotions which will deteriorate your performance. If you change the goal picture into something positive, you can easily generate powerful emotions that will help you develop strong and grounded personality.