I’ve always been curious about how things work. I love to figure things out.
But long ago I set out on a more ambitious quest: to discover how we human beings work. Specifically, how we think, and how thoughts create behavior and, eventually, our lives.
It’s no easy project. The three-pound magic walnut we call a brain sports a hundred billion nerve cells. Hear that like Austin Powers’ nemesis Dr. Evil says it: ONE HUNDRED BILLION nerve cells. And each nerve cell is a micro Chia Pet with ten thousand synaptic sprouts. That’s a quadrillion sprout-wires carrying massively sophisticated electro-chemical signals, interconnecting the most complex and powerful creation in the cosmos. This miracle mind-nut makes our lives work.
Then put all the nuts together, and we get the mixed-nut magic of culture. Billions of nuts, living and dead, collectively creating the big glass nut-bowl of human achievement.
But are we truly achieving like we could? Are we reaching our potential? In so many ways, no. In the struggle to live well, we often lose. Herculean efforts to exercise and eat right fall short. Compulsive spending sabotages our individual and collective futures. At work and at school, we dally too much and do too little. We influence our teams and lead our organizations ineffectively. We set our sights too low. Or we set grand goals but fail to reach them.
I’ve always wanted to know why. To understand the mechanisms of mind and motive. The toggles of thought. The crazy quadrillion-sprout wonder of the brain and all it does to solve problems and get things done.
In all the vastness of inner and outer space, this three-pound miracle is the Grand Enchilada, the wonder of wonders. It is THE control center for human life and civilization.
The stunner is, we all own one. Right there, behind our eyes, the Grand Enchilada is ours to use, for life.
The big question is, Why aren’t we using it like we could?