MENTAL ENGINEERING SEMINAR
Theme Scripture: For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7
Host: Pastor Muyiwa Kolawole (Resident Pastor, LFC Adewole Estate, Ilorin
Speaker: James Aremu-Cole. Ph.D.
General Introduction
What is mental engineering?
Mental engineering refers to the process of intentionally designing, shaping, and maintaining one’s mental state, (mind) thoughts, or beliefs to achieve a specific outcome or goal. It seeks to create a basis for understanding and improving the way we THINK and behave, ultimately leading to better outcomes in life. It is a powerful tool for personal transformation, allowing individuals to take control of their mind, unlock their full potential, thereby changing their destiny.
Mental Engineering involves re-directing the mind using various techniques similar to how a mechanical or electrical engineer would fine-tune his equipment for optimal performance. But an engineer must fully understand how his machine works to be able to improve its performance. Similarly, to be able to reprogram the mind, we must understand how the mind works. The mind is complicated, but just as we use our phones without necessarily understanding its mechanics, so also we will explore just enough of the mind to be able to tap its enormous power for our change of destiny.
Objective: To develop better self-awareness, overcome negative self-talk and self-limiting beliefs, by learning how to reprogram your subconscious, and shape it to become your greatest ally.
PAPER 1
SCIENCE OF MIND by James Aremu-Cole, Ph.D.
Scripture: And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth… Deut. 8:18. This power to get wealth is the human mind. That’s how important it is.
This first paper discusses how the mind works, with emphasis on the subconscious, highlighting the characteristics that make it a powerful force for a change of destiny.
The Mystery: The human mind is one of the greatest mysteries of our times, and it’s secret was not known until the last century, when a brain-mind connection was made.
Understanding The Mind: In order to be able to reprogram the mind, we need to truly understand the mind and how it works, much like a skilled engineer must know his contraption.
The mind is one, but it operates at two levels known as the conscious and the subconscious mind.
The Conscious Mind: The conscious mind is our immediate window to the world, and the part we are most aware of. It is responsible for logical thinking, short-term memory retention, and our active decision-making process. It is the part that directly interacts with, and processes our external environment via our five senses.
The Subconscious Mind: The subconscious is the quiet portion of our mind, automatically making judgments and decisions without our active, conscious intervention. It controls all the internal organs that keep our body alive and healthy- the heart, lungs, kidney, liver etc. and regulates their operations without our knowledge. For example, you cannot voluntarily stop breathing, otherwise people suicide would be cheap!
The subconscious is like a giant library, storing every experience, emotion, and thought we ever had since birth. This immense database plays a significant role in influencing our daily actions and decisions, most of which we are not even aware of. For example, suppose a toddler was forced to try a dish, and he found it repulsive. Forty years later he might decline the same dish at a banquet, not quite knowing why. That’s the subconscious mind at work. It remembers because it recorded it in its gigantic database of the subconscious.
The subconscious mind processes thousands of pieces of information and makes us do some things under its own control. We become like spectators in our own drama. A typical example: Watch accomplished instrumentalists move their hands, feet, and fingers with incredible speeds and dexterity that are far beyond their conscious control!
Their subconscious takes over control of their limbs, and even they couldn’t tell you what they are doing. The subconscious has a mind of its own, so to speak! We will explore the power of the subconscious further later in this paper.
The subconscious is not just a passive storage unit; It actively engages in processing information, influencing every facet of our lives. From the songs we hum to the dreams we dream; the touch of the subconscious is omnipresent.
The subconscious sorts through the barrage of information we are exposed to daily, keeping the flow to manageable numbers, thereby preventing us from being overwhelmed by the sensory overload from our environment. Every choice we make, every preference we have, and every emotion we feel has the imprint of the subconscious.
The Subconscious: A Two-edged Dagger
But what if this vast and powerful part of our mind is filled with limiting beliefs, fears, and negative experiences? Over time, this can hold us back from achieving our goals and living life to the fullest.
Consider, for example, a young girl who is passionate about becoming a musician, but was discouraged early in her life by harsh comments from her parents, teachers or colleagues. They tell her something like; “You? A musician? You can never be a musician.” It may be just one time or it may have been repeated several times, she might grow up doubting herself and her ability. Her subconscious will keep echoing that criticism every time she picks up her instrument to play; potentially leading her to abandon her passion.
The good news
The subconscious mind can be reprogrammed to overcome such self-limiting beliefs. This reprogramming is not magic or pseudoscience, but it is deeply rooted in decades of psychological research and evidence-based therapies which we will discuss in Paper 4.
The Power of the Subconscious Mind.
We shall now consider some of the characteristics of the subconscious mind that makes it possible to reprogram it.
1. The subconscious is our friend, whose primary purpose is our survival and health. To this end, it controls all the internal organs that keep us alive and healthy such as our heart, lungs, kidneys, liver etc. and causes them to respond appropriately to changing conditions in the body and the environment. Examples: The foot-dodge, the blink, and nausea/diarrhea/vomiting are reactions of the subconscious to life and wellbeing. Internal fraud alert is the subconscious action in the mental realm.
2. The subconscious perceives by intuition and not by the five senses. It just knows things instinctively without a known source. We call this a “hunch” or “gut feeling.” In addition, it is both clairvoyant and clairaudient. In other words, it can see and hear respectively without the use of the corresponding physical organs.
3. It is capable of leaving the physical body to travel to distant lands, and bring back information, oft times of the most exact and truthful character. This is the power that all pioneer inventors and creative people tap into for their exploits, because their subconscious invariably steers them towards their inventions and discoveries.
4. The subconscious mind does not reason, argue controversially, or engage in proving whether your thoughts are good or bad, true or false, possible, or impossible. It simply accepts and executes what the conscious mind believes.
5. The subconscious knows no impossibility. If the conscious mind can believe it, the subconscious will make it happen. This epitomizes the teaching of Jesus on faith. This is why we “call the things that be not as though they were.” When Jesus said, “only believe, all things are possible to him that believes…”, and “…if you say to this mountain, …, and do not doubt in your heart (mind) you will have whatever you say,” etc., he was talking about the subconscious mind knowing no impossibility!
6. The subconscious mind can apprehend the thoughts of others without the use of the objective means of communication. It can read the contents of sealed envelopes and closed safes. This is what gives the subconscious mind what is sometimes considered “magical power” which the adepts can deploy in solving many of life’s seemingly intractable problems.
7. When relaxed, the conscious mind controls some aspects of the subconscious, but in life-threatening emergencies, the subconscious goes into autonomous mode, independent of the conscious mind. Examples: blink, fight-or-flight response. Reprogramming the subconscious is done through the conscious mind, details of which we will consider in Paper 4.
These are some of the characteristics that make it possible to reprogram the subconscious mind and making it such a powerful change agent of destiny. We should be exploring how this is done and why it works in subsequent papers.