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Healthy Versus Unhealthy Minds
On July 15, 2022, I was privileged to speak at the United Healthcare Summit and presented a program entitled COVID and the Manipulation of Your Mind. My objectives were to examine the differences between a healthy versus an unhealthy mind, reveal the differences between information and methods, and identify a nine-step process used to manipulate minds and get people to make decisions they would not otherwise make.
In the next series of blogs, I will unpack these points.
Healthy minds are not inherited—they are developed! The development of our minds is an outworking of God’s various laws, such as the law of exertion. What we exercise grows stronger; what we neglect gets weaker. Practice critical reasoning and exercise self-discipline and those neural circuits grow stronger, but practice impulsive, thoughtless, emotional decision-making and the mind’s ability to self-govern grows weaker. So let’s explore seven differences between a healthy and unhealthy mind.
Healthy Versus Unhealthy Minds—Seven Points of Contrast
- A healthy mind is motivated by love, altruistic concern for the welfare of others, being a blessing to the community, and caring about someone or something more than self.
- An unhealthy mind is motived by fear and selfishness and is primarily concerned with feeling safe, avoiding threats, and gratifying one’s own desires.
- A healthy mind is directed by reason; the individual seeks to comprehend events, understand situations, and do what is reasonable in harmony with reality, principles, and healthy morals and values.
- An unhealthy mind is directed by feelings; the individual seeks what feels best irrespective of what is most reasonable.
- A healthy mind prioritizes facts over feelings. Despite strong feelings, an individual with a healthy mind will choose to do what the objective facts determine is best.
- An unhealthy mind prioritizes feelings over facts. An individual with an unhealthy mind might be aware of the facts but will still choose what feels best in the moment.
- A healthy mind recognizes its limits, recognizes that it is finite and that there is always more information outside of its current awareness; it has an attitude of openness to examine new ideas, evidence, and perspectives and is not threatened or angered if their ideas are questioned.
- An unhealthy mind has an inflated sense of self and becomes threatened when their ideas are questioned; it will seek to silence or devalue opposing views.
- A healthy mind values and pursues objective truth and wants to grow in truth; it is willing to reason through new evidences and truths and, thus, doesn’t get agitated when its current views are challenged by new evidence.
- An unhealthy mind values power because it is motivated by fear and selfishness; the more power an individual with an unhealthy mind has, the safer and more in control they can make themselves feel. They will often seek to silence voices of truth, especially when the truth threatens their power.
- A healthy mind respects others and recognizes that each person is a valuable individual with their own unique identity, ability to think and reason, who stands in a different place in the world, with different experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives—a healthy mind realizes those differing perspectives have value.
- An unhealthy mind devalues others who think differently, sees many in society as deficient, ignorant, and incapable, and considers those who don’t view things like them as deplorable.
- A healthy mind thinks for itself. As General Patton famously said, “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.” An individual with a healthy mind will be open to hearing the perspectives of others but thinks through those perspectives for oneself and decides for oneself.
- An unhealthy mind either won’t give real consideration to other people’s views or will surrender their thinking to someone else and allow others to do their thinking for them.
Summary Table: Healthy Versus Unhealthy Mind
|
Healthy |
Unhealthy |
|
Love and altruism |
Fear and selfishness |
|
Directed by reason |
Directed by emotions |
|
Facts over feelings |
Feelings over facts |
|
Recognizes its limits |
Inflated sense of self |
|
Values objective truth |
Values power |
|
Respects others |
Devalues others |
|
Thinks for self |
Lets others decide |
Two Minds, Two Kingdoms
According to Scripture, we are in a war for hearts and minds—whom will we choose to love and trust, what will we believe, what methods will we practice, and whose kingdom (laws) will we embrace?
If you have a biblical worldview, then you accept that there are two antagonistic forces at war: God and His kingdom of truth, love, and freedom versus Satan and his kingdom of lies, fear-driven selfishness, and coercion. These two kingdoms, with their opposing methods, are the basis of the two general philosophical approaches to how we treat others.
Satan’s method is to use power and control to rule over and dominate others, diminishing people into a serf class to serve him (Isaiah 14:13, 14); God’s method is to give of Himself to uplift His creation with love and truth, healing and transforming them to develop and grow to the highest levels possible, restoring genuine godlikeness in us (Philippians 2:5–8 NIV84).
These two general approaches have led to two antagonistic philosophies in how we treat others and direct our use of authority over others. One is healthy; the other is unhealthy.
The healthy approach is known as autonomy; it is the philosophy that recognizes the value of every person and seeks to implement laws, policies, protocols, and actions that allow each individual to maximize their own abilities, to develop to the greatest level they are capable of achieving with the abilities God has given them. In this worldview, people in authority want every person to be as healthy, capable, and as fully developed as they are able to achieve. In other words, they want a society in which people are free to pursue happiness without undue external restrictions on personal liberty. In such a society, investment in quality education would be made and maximum individual liberties would be respected.
This healthy approach is opposed by paternalism and autocracy. Paternalism is the benevolent attitude of wanting to help those who are viewed as not being as wise or capable as the elites. It is the idea that the vast majority of people are too immature, ignorant, and incapable of understanding and making good decisions for themselves; thus, those in charge see themselves like loving parents needing to decide what is best for the pitiable lessers in society. Autocracy is the malevolent idea that a few select people, the elites, have the right to rule others because of power, divine right, or some other rationalization and that the masses are theirs to exploit for their benefit. Both of these approaches are rooted in Satan’s worldview of ruling over others to empower self; they are driven ultimately by fear and selfishness, not sacrificial love and truth.
Prior to the founding of the United States, every human government had functioned with ruling elites exploiting the masses—emperors and empresses of Japan and China, pharaohs of Egypt, kings and queens of the nation-states of Europe, etc. The Founders of the United States did not want the masses being exploited by the elites and purposely constructed a government that gave real power to the people, enabling them to restrain the historic three ruling elites, which are the government and its officials, the religious elites, and the aristocracy (including mega-wealthy corporations and business owners).
Those who practice autonomy want to empower others and, thus, advance true education, teaching critical reasoning skills, with real standards, and requiring actual measurable learning (e.g., passing examinations). Those who practice paternalism or autocracy make education about indoctrination and teaching only the basic skills necessary for the serf class to function in the various “menial” roles a society needs to have fulfilled; they certainly do not want a truly educated populace that can think critically for themselves.
The Founders of the USA recognized that the people could retain and wield power only as they united on a common set of values and principles, which were listed in the Constitution. The elites who want a serf class also recognize this and, thus, constantly seek to divide society by race, class, sex, gender, vax status, and, more recently, language (such as allowing for multiple enclaves in the USA to be non-English-speaking and have school instruction in languages other than English). This is purposeful because the elites who exploit the masses understand that when we, the people, unite on common values and principles, we can restrain their exploitation of the masses. Whenever you see messaging that divides the people by caste, race, sex, vax status, etc., you can be sure that it is driven by the elites to prevent the people from exercising their constitutional authority to restrain the three exploitive powers.
Finally, those who govern upon the principles of autonomy practice the methods of truth, altruism (love), and liberty. Those who advance paternalism or autocracy govern on the principles of lies, selfishness, and control.
Healthy minds live out and apply the healthy methods of God—truth, love, freedom, and autonomy; whereas unhealthy minds live out and apply the methods of Satan—lies, fear and selfishness, coercive control, and autocracy.
In our next blog, Part 2, we will explore the differences between healthy and unhealthy decision-making and between information and methods. And later, we will examine a nine-step process used by those who want to create a functional serf class to manipulate minds and get people to make decisions they would not otherwise make if this nine-step process were not used.
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