So far we have looked at PTV, how it arose and how it spread via the medieval church into the Western education system.
We saw how this truth-driven education system with its emphasis on ‘the search for certainty’ was exported to Australia and around the world, and, how your own brain may have become infected.
The Effects of PTV
If this is so, how does PTV work to inhibit your abilities as a sovereign thinker. Well, as a cognitive disease, PTV in your brain can produce a number of deleterious effects. Let’s look at just four manifestations of PTV:
- Brain Vain (opinion pride and conceit)
- Righteous and Sightless (consequence blindness)
- Space Glutton (output-mania)
- Lazy Critic (mistake-phobia)
Brain Vain
A brain vain thinker is one who is suffering from opinion pride. This PTV-infected brainuser is unable to see a better way of looking at things. Because the brain vain thinker is so proud of her or his own opinion they find it difficult to do any other kind of thinking but to defend it.
The more intelligent the brain vain thinker, the more they may suffer from this kind of cognitive conceit. Very bright thinkers who are PTV-infected may be only using their brainpower to defend their opinion. They are unable to escape from their viewpoint to look for a much better one.
Righteous and Sightless
The righteous brain is blind to consequences. PTV may have so incapacitated a True Believer that he is unable to see the results of his actions. In the belief that they are “morally right” any action is justified by the Righteous and Sightless, regardless of what follows. This is a very dangerous condition and so often fatal.
Millions have rushed headlong into death because ‘God is on our side’. Millions have been killed because they are ‘infidels’, ‘Jews’, ‘Catholics’ or ‘Protestants’. “I-am-right-and-you-are-wrong” is the hallmark of the Righteous and Sightless condition.
In 1994, John Paul II urged all Roman Catholic Cardinals to reflect on this aspect of the Church’s history. He wrote to them asking them to seize the unique beginning of the new millennium to recognise the “dark side of its history”. He asked: “How can one remain silent about the many forms of violence perpetrated in the name of the faith–wars of religion, tribunals of the Inquisition and other forms of violations of the rights of persons.”
Space Glutton
In a meeting, the space glutton always takes up considerably more than his or her fair share of airtime. Space gluttons may suffer from output mania, the inability to shut-up.
Gathering input by listening to the opinions of others is an important cognitive skill which is crippled in the space glutton. PTV may allow the thinker to wreak such enthusiasm for his or her own ideas that he or she is quite unable to listen to others.
In business, much creativity and productivity is lost in meetings due to those suffering from this condition. This condition is disastrous for those in sales or in management.
Lazy Critic
Lazy critics suffer from mistake-phobia, the morbid fear of ever making a mistake. The PTV-infected brain has an aversion to ever being wrong. It comes from our medieval habit of looking at the world through the concept of “right” and “wrong” (not shared as much by other cultures like the Chinese).
When a sovereign thinker is about to try something new, he never really knows what will happen. There is always risk and uncertainty. This risk is enough to keep the mistake-phobiac hiding in inertia. As an effective disguise the mistake-phobiac often assumes the role of ‘the critic’.
Taking pot-shots from the relative safety of his bunker of reluctance, the lazy critic simply waits for another thinker to make a mistake and then the whingeing and whining begins.
These are a few of the cognitive conditions caused by PTV, there are many others. The purpose of the School of Thinking is to help brainusers deal with these conditions by designing and offering tools they can use.
Since 1979, SOT has developed a number of tools and strategies. You can see them at the SOT Dashboard for Thinkers. For example:
- ‘thinking caps’,
- ‘brain software’ and
- ‘memeplexes’.
The Brain Software
The SOT brain software is provided in Part Two of this training which begins in the coming lessons and is for you to use at school, at work, at home and at play.
SOT Brain Software consists of a dashboard or suite of four software codes for your brain. This SOT dashboard contains 15 mind-tools. These mind-tools can be used by the brainuser in an ever-widening repertoire of combinations to produce a virtually unlimited number of effects.
The SOT neuro-software is a four-part code:
SDNT CVSTOBVS QRH PRR
Each code or acronym stands for a specific piece of brain software which will be dealt with in the following chapters.
Once it is programmed into your brain, the neuroware helps to neutralize or by-pass PTV by giving you, the brainuser, a simple way to increase your awareness of the thinking strategies that are available to you in any situation that comes your way.
DFQ #058:
Over the next 24 hours, try to notice at least one example of each of the following:
– Brain Vain (opinion pride and conceit)
– Righteous and Sightless (consequence blindness)
– Space Glutton (output-mania)
– Lazy Critic (mistake-phobia).
Over the next 24 hours, try to notice at least one example of each of the following:
– Brain Vain (opinion pride and conceit)
Sometimes I still think that my idea is the best. However in the last few months I add the expression “so far” and cvstobvs.
– Righteous and Sightless (consequence blindness)
I try to see not only others people view, but also others people interest view. ON the other hand, I need to incorporate a more complete factors (people, money, time, effort and so on) that are affected by my actions.
– Space Glutton (output-mania)
I have the ability to shut-up. However I should listen more often to others.
– Lazy Critic (mistake-phobia).
With six thinking cap/hats method/technique, before I use the black hat/cap I generate ideas with a green hat, and also see positive/objective benefits.
I know I’m supposed to write about all four manifestations of PTV, but I feel compelled to highlight one of them in light of the Boston marathon bombing of April 15th.
This particular virus seems to me to be a prime example of the righteous brain being blind to consequences of killing and injuring innocent people.
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Righteous and Sightless
The righteous brain is blind to consequences. PTV may have so incapacitated a True Believer that he is unable to see the results of his actions. In the belief that they are “morally right” any action is justified by the Righteous and Sightless, regardless of what follows. This is a very dangerous condition and so often fatal.
Millions have rushed headlong into death because ‘God is on our side’. Millions have been killed because they are ‘infidels’, ‘Jews’, ‘Catholics’ or ‘Protestants’. “I-am-right-and-you-are-wrong” is the hallmark of the Righteous and Sightless condition.
I feel the Brain vain,is that i am trying to improve from CvstoBvs.In order word invend PTV to my daily usage. Space Glutton,anything being done in company of differet backgrond is one of the core reason of having things done. Righteous and sightles,my director of the company i works always intimidat the manage on how to motivite the workers,he almost sack the manage base on mativition processes.due the manager is trying to making an end point for him. Lazy critic,some people or group of people think without tham nothing can be posible to others.
Brain Vain:
Me. I tend to think that my responses to questions (whether in class or this DFQ) are one of the kind…until I learned that the questions have been around for a long time and my responses are similar to others before me.
Righteous and Sightless:
A mother-in-law scolded her daughter-in-law for spending too much time working. The mother-in-law assumed that her daughter-in-law was going against her, ambitious, and believed that a woman’s job is to take care of the household. She failed to realize the family’s financial situation. Her son’s wages were low and her daughter-in-law was working to make ends meet.
Space Glutton:
Anyone who keeps talking when I have thing to share.
Lazy Critic:
A student refused to show his work in class because his answer could be wrong. He was quick to point out mistake in his classmates’ works when they showed theirs.
Brain Vain – One of my old managers whose catchphrase was “My way or the Highway” – NOT open to new ideas and strategies.
Righteous and Sightless – A very religious relative who is blind to the adverse effects his beliefs have had on his family life.
Space Glutton – Talk Back Radio Hosts in Australia who hog the airtime available – I will talk a lot and you(the callers from the audience) can talk a little.
Lazy Critic – Australian Politicians and the level of political debate.
I feel that Brian Vain can be quite difficult to escape from in my profession. In Technology, as with some engineering, there are aspects where there really is only one correct or best answer based on tried and tested best-practises. There are places where there really isn’t room for opinion.
However there are places were this doesn’t apply, and probably more places than I’m aware of. So the challenge for me is to look where BVS is possible and try to identify some common characteristics that differentiate situations where BVS is possible and situations where best practise rules.
quiet days…didnt have too much human contacts 😉
But of course – Brain Vains are out there – family for example, the older generation =always in conflict with us, about way of living, etc. And sometimes they become these Brain Vains (“you have to be part of christian church! Its part of our history! You were raised according to their teachings! Never leave this club”,…)
Sometimes i might forget thinking about consequences… and i think i usually believe i am doing something good. Well, i havent burned that much people, but still… could do better 😉
Space Glutton – definitely NOT me. I am used to listen. So when there is a SG i cannot stand it. Happened in one of my former companies – quite often some head of department, CEO,… seems to be part of the job description
Lazy Critic – a good friend of mine is a good example for this. That way he became quite an “expert” – people like to listen to someone who sees faults, errors.
Positive people (like me) are “naive”
Brain Vain –
I observe this several times in meetings where we dont use the thinking caps. Sometimes there are
people who go get so engrossed in his/her idea that after sometime protecting that becomes his/her main focus point
even if that is not in the interest of the issue/problem we set out to solve.Basically this is protecting that
person’s pride. I have seen a lot of this in graudates from top universities and people with several degrees who
believe that they know all the answers – know the truth and the others know less then them 🙂
Righteous and Sightless –
See this in a lot of religious groups around the world and sometimes sub groups within the same religion based on
their beleif in their leader and his views.They will fight with each other as in their minds they are right and
their righteousness has to be preserved irrespective of the consequences of their actions – they are blind to the
consqeunces.
Space Glutton
This is very pervasive in the corporate world especially as talking a lot is equated with knowing a lot and not
talking a lot in meetings is often seen as a sign of not knowing or lacking confidence. I have seen many examples of this in the several organizations that I worked with or consulted for.
Lazy Critic
I have seen these in several meetings expecially related to situations where decisions need to be made – for e.g. we need to give a bid and the solution includes giving answers to several parameters for eg -the risk that the client is willing to take. Now ability to take risks differs from clent to cleint so when one person takes a view (and say for that the client is risk averse) the ‘lazy critic’ will just say it will not work and give reasons why it will not work instead of coming out with solutions (And give his view on what the clients risk taking ability is) or reasons why something will work.This because they do not want to make a mistake – what if their suggestion is wrong ? – its mistake phobia.
I have also visited all four of these results, as my personal manifestations. I am pleased to say however, that I now find myself fully aware, and able to stop and adjust according to better stance.
I have been lucky enough over the last 30 odd hours to not come across any of these but I certainly do know people that fit the category. Personally I have been a Lazy Critic in the past and I have also had instances of Brain Vain where I refused to look at any other option. CVS to BVS has certainly helped in that area =)