Thinking about What You Think Abou

“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” —Philippians 4:8

A good life grows out of good input.

Our brains are remarkable. That little organ has been designed to constantly receive and process data, even when we are not trying to do so. Of course, we think about the fact that our brains taking in information when we are reading a book or sitting in a class while the teacher gives a lecture. This is a form of active learning where we intentionally engage our brains to learn something new. But there is also something that we might call passive learning.

Passive learning occurs perpetually. It’s on auto-pilot and there is no off button. Most of the time we don’t even know what we are learning as we are learning it. It just happens as we go through the day. The most obvious example of this happens when we grow up in a family and we learn to speak. It’s not like taking a Spanish class. We learn to talk as we associate words with actions and objects. We never question the weird and complex structure of the English language. It is just the way it is. 

We experience passive learning in all kinds of ways. One of the most common is through our interaction with friends (and enemies). We hear and see things from others that influence us. Some trustworthy, many are not. If we consider someone a friend, what they think and say matters, and we will often believe them because we want our relationship to be sound, even if what they say or do might look off. 

Passive learning also occurs as we engage social media, stream a show, or listen to music. We might be able to say that we don’t actually believe what we are taking in—and we very well might be able to differentiate—but there is no way that what we are taking in does not affect us. I say that because everything that we take in affects the way that our brain works. Years ago, I would listen to a radio talk show host who ranted and raved about his sports opinions. I found myself stressed out after listening to him, even though I agreed with much of what he said. His tone was passively affecting men, whether I wanted it to or not. 

Another form of passive learning comes with daily experience. Trauma can cause us to react in ways that stress us out, even if it does not make sense. A good experience can result in a shot of dopamine, again, even if no one else can understand why it results in joy. If you have a boring history teacher, you might be bored by anything related to history for the rest of your life. But if you had an interesting math teacher, you might find the subject enlightening, even if you don’t have a propensity toward doing math well. I’m actually writing this today because I am thinking about how the busyness of my work during the Christmas season is impacting the way I think. I found myself easily frustrated by people at work that usually don’t frustrate me. The experience of busyness was overloading my brain, even though I was trying to keep it from doing so. I did not even realize what was going on and that I just needed some time to take a breath.

The world throws data at us, far more information than we can consciously process. One of the things that keeps us from finding freedom is this inundation of useless information and unnecessary activities that control us because our brains take in them in passively. Some of it is benign and fun. I admit that. But think of it this way: if your brains are a garden and it is full of the input of weeds, then it will never grow the fruit of freedom. It takes work to remove the weeds and keep them out. 

If you want to live a great life, you will have to guard the input into your brain. You cannot control everything because we ugly experiences happen that are beyond our direct influence. However, the more we allow things that are beautiful, true, and good to enter our minds, the more the gardens of our minds will be free to produce a life that is beautiful, true, and good.