Panacea To Man’s Problems (2)
TAKING it from previous discussion, proper mind functions are grounded on the rules of intelligence. This is about the successful linkage between ‘cause and effect,’ popularly canonised in that famous statement ‘whatever you sow you will reap’. To sow is the cause and to reap is the effect. When the process of ‘cause and effect’ gives you desired result, it is called intelligence. It goes without saying that, when one is getting undesirable results, it is equally and clearly the reflection of a mind that is troubled or completely dysfunctional. When a mind functions like this, nothing works. It is the opposite of intelligent application of the mind, whatever you may choose to call it.
You may now see at this point why it may be necessary, as we are trying to discuss it now, for all of mankind today, including people in our own dear Nigeria, to direct serious attention on how the mind operates, because the world’s destiny, is hanging on the quality of the minds that operate it.
We should thank the academic world for making the MIND a subject of study. It comes popularly under the subject of psychology. As I previously said, the mind is the factory where our behaviours are manufactured, and the understanding of this is largely what psychology deals with.
I am privileged to be a trained Psychologist, but like many honest Psychologists will tell you, the subject on the understanding of the mind is far too important to be confined strictly to the walls of academic learning. It is a subject that must be entrenched in the public domain. In other words, it appears like a sad commentary that what should have been the number one subject for everybody is made an exclusive preserve of a few within the ivory tower. This discussion is sort of a beginning to bring psychology into the public domain.
As I said before, it is clear we are living in dangerous times. If we say we are living in dangerous times, it is another way of saying our minds are operating in a serious disconnect. Cause and effect at different levels of our lives are grossly out of tune.
They are discordant. The rule and method of intelligence is out of it. When a mind is discordant, it is unsettled and what are the symptoms of an unsettled mind? They are fear, frustration, anger, worry, bitterness and anxiety.
If it stopped at only this, it could still be managed. But unfortunately, these symptoms are usually the sources of such illnesses as hypertension, migraine, ulcer, heart failure and more unfortunately, mental illness. Of particular tragic significance is the urge towards suicide.
Babatunde Ayo-vaughan (Psychologist)