Are We Really as Conscious and Autonomous as We Think?

As humans, I feel like the mass majority of us frequently think of ourselves as conscious, autonomous beings. We think for ourselves, we think independently and we aren’t all that affected by influencing factors around us.

It’s not wrong and neither am I saying that it should be more common for us to abandon such a mentality. Rather, I’m proposing we just be more aware that we aren’t as in control of our thoughts and actions as we think we are.

When we shake a cold hand, we unconsciously think of that person as having a cold personality. There is no bearing as to how having cold hands equates to having a cold personality but we still get influenced by it.

The primitive and automatic part of our brain sensed the temperature and fired signals upwards towards our evolved and thinking frontal cortex, influencing us to think of the person with cold hands possessing a cold personality.

There was no understanding of the person’s personality, no thought out arguments about his personality but we still think that way and act upon the world as if it were our thinking.

Hence, I feel we should be at least more conscious about how unconscious we usually are. It allows us to question and doubt ourselves and opens up opportunities to see the world through different lenses.