Rational or Delusional Thinking?

Are you a rational or delusional thinker?

Here is an example of how a majority of people think. It is a dialogue arising from a question in Quora on the Internet. It reflects how self-deceptive it is for people to believe that they are on the right track. Quite clearly, their perception is distorted. I am continually trying to improve the mental health of society, but I am afraid it is a losing battle. It seems that we live in a zombie type of world where people have lost their ability to use a commonsense approach to any problem. The self or ego is the greatest manipulator in mind. Most people have no idea how their thinking affects their physical and mental health, and it seems most people could not be bothered learning about how our mind works.

Question:

Do we freely choose what we think, or does our mind subconsciously control our thoughts?

My answer:

“This is what I call convoluted thinking in which I wonder someone is trying to ask a question for the sake of asking a question. If you think this way, it reflects a sad state of affairs. I would strongly recommend that you please read my book to acquire some self-knowledge and understanding of your mind. There is a thinker in your mind (the ‘nut’ behind the wheel) doing the thinking which influences your subconscious mind. Please try to understand the ego. The thinker can delude himself into thinking that someone is controlling him if he does not understand how the subconscious mind works.”

Comment by the questioner:

“I ask questions because I’m genuinely interested; otherwise, I wouldn’t bother asking. And I ask because I haven’t written a book on the subject and so don’t understand everything there is to know about a subject. I learn by having an enquiring mind and sharing and learning with other knowledgeable souls on a topic.

What would Quora be if our questions are denigrated and judged without any understanding of the person behind the question? Convolutedness has nothing to do with it.

And as per ego, I won’t read your book because you’ve used this question as a blatant marketing tool, rather than encouraging me to explore further through tidbits of useful information.

If you didn’t want to answer my question, then better you didn’t in the first place.”

My Response:

“Thank you for your comment. As one can see, not many people are genuinely interested in finding out the truth about the mind. I am sorry if I offended you.”

The final comment by the questioner:

“Thank you for your follow-up, Dr Mohanlal. No offence taken.”

This case shows how important it is for any person who wishes to improve his or her mental health to understand what perception means. Perceptions influence our thinking, and our thinking influences our behaviour and actions. When we carry distorted perceptions on any issue, we may think we are so right and yet can be so wrong.