Some thoughts about a painting

By Shevlin Sebastian

When my former colleague and friend Jose NV sent me this painting, it made me think. This is the age-old dichotomy for a human being. What should we listen to? The heart or the brain. And now scientists say there is a second brain. And that is the gut.

So, in a crisis or an emergency, you receive inputs from the brain, heart and gut. What do you listen to? All the inputs come to your mind. To that ethereal concept known as the self.

If it is a split-second decision, like playing a point during a tennis match, it is always best to follow your instinct. That means your heart or gut.

In an interview, batting great Sachin Tendulkar said that when he went to the crease, his primary aim was to move the conscious aside and let the unconscious do the batting. There was too little time after the ball left the bowler’s hand to use reason and logic and then respond.

All of us do something similar when we drive a car and have an animated conversation simultaneously. The unconscious drives the car. If the mind does not intervene with its random thoughts, the unconscious can execute the action perfectly.

If it is a decision that you have time to mull over, then the brain does a lot of pros and cons. Most outstanding personalities decide to follow the heart or the gut. These are far more accurate. You get results from this. But is this correct? In her autobiography, ‘My Life’, the former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir said that sometimes her intuition made mistakes too.

Some may ask, why discount the brain? It has the vast powers of the unconscious.

But most of us cannot use these powers. From the time we are born to the age of seven, we have received millions of impressions. These form our mindset. They influence our actions till the day we die.

If the impressions are positive, then there is no problem. Life moves forward smoothly, the conscious and the unconscious gelling perfectly.

But if the experiences in childhood are bad, then you develop a negative mindset. This results in persistent defeats right through life. This happens, despite your conscious mind wanting to achieve things. Can we heal childhood traumas and turn around our lives? It takes years of therapy and being constantly on an inner journey for healing to happen. It is like climbing Mount Everest. Many dream of it but few achieve it.

Ultimately, a decision is a leap into the dark. You might land on your feet or it could be a crash landing with broken bones and dreams.

I trust the heart more than the brain. Somehow, they lead to correct outcomes. The problem with the brain is that the ego is involved. Does the ego live in the brain? What exactly is an ego? And where is its location? It is amorphous. We cannot touch it, but we can feel its presence all the time.

The best way is to use all three. Let the brain decide. Then you should observe how the heart and gut react. If they are fine and there are no tremors or alarms, most probably your decision is right.

One cannot avoid the fact that at every moment you have to make some decision or the other. So, we have to use the full powers at our disposal to make the right choices.

Jose could not identify the painter. Thanks to the work of artists, their works can set us thinking. And we can hope to change for the better.