Switch on Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health (17 page)

oped, and tested a theory that can basically be described as

explaining the science of thought—or in simple terms, how

we think and the effect of our thoughts on our brain, body,

and mind. I applied this in many ways with my patients and

in my research over time.1

If you look at the image of my theory, “The Geodesic In-

formation Processing Theory” on pages 126–27, it will help

you understand this internal activity, the science of thought,

a little better.

Before I explain this in a simple way, let me tell you why I am

doing this. When you understand the power of your thought

life, which has been the emphasis of the first seven chapters in

this book, you truly begin to get a glimpse of how important

it is to take responsibility for what you are thinking. Thinking

is a powerful creative force, both a blessing and a curse, and

should not be taken lightly. So, in exposing you to a tested

scientific theory, albeit briefly in this chapter, I am giving you

some tangible proof (not the only proof) that God was so

serious about us capturing our thoughts and renewing our

minds that he gave us science as encouragement.

Thomas More explains this so well in his book
Utopia
:

The scientific investigation of nature is not only a most en-

joyable process but also the best possible means of pleasing

the Creator. . . . He has the normal reactions of an artist.

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The Science of Thought

Having put the marvelous system of the universe on show for

human beings to look at—since no other species is capable

of taking it in—He must prefer the type of person who ex-

amines it carefully, and really admires his work, to the type

that just ignores it and like the lower animals remains quite

unimpressed by the whole astonishing spectacle.2

You will see there are three levels on the schematic of my

theory: (1) Nonconscious metacognitive level; (2) Conscious

cognitive level; and (3) Symbolic output level.

Nonconscious Metacognitive Level

The nonconscious metacognitive level is on the far left.

It is where 90 to 99 percent of the action in your mind is;

your thinking and thought-building happen on this level.

This level operates at about four hundred billion actions per

second and drives the conscious cognitive level. It operates

twenty-four hours a day.

Conscious Cognitive Level

The conscious cognitive level, in the middle, is where up to

10 percent of mind action is. It operates at about two thou-

sand actions per second, so it is much slower and is controlled

by the metacognitive level. The cognitive level in turn drives

the symbolic output level (end section), which is what you say

and do—what the world sees, the output of your thinking.

This level operates when we are awake.

Symbolic Action Level

The symbolic output level incorporates the five senses

through which you express yourself and experience the world,

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THE GEODESIC INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL

NON-CONSCIOUS

METACOGNITIVE LEVEL

90% of Learning

Root of thinking process

Automatized

MMA

and then structure of the

complex higher

non-conscious

cortical functions

1–7 METACOGNITIVE MODULES

Ability to manipulate

Capacity to understand and

objects and fine-tune

PROCESSING

interact with others

physical skills

SYSTEM

READING (R)

1

2

eg. Reading

WRITING (W)

INTER-

LISTENING (L)

PERSONAL

KINESTHETIC

SPEAKING (S)

Ability to

manipulate

symbols

MMA

7

3

INTRA-

LINGUISTIC

PERSONAL

S R

INPUT

L W

INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL

FUNCTIONS

MUSICAL

LOGICAL/

Ability to

4

eg. reading for concepts

MATHEMATICAL

perceive an

reading novel

accurate model

reading technical info

SPATIAL/

of oneself

6

VISUAL

Ability to

calculate, quantify,

carry out complex

Processing

5

mathematical operations

systems represented

Sensitivity to pitch,

and consider

melody, rhythm & tune

neurobiologically

propositions & hypotheses

as functional systems

Ability to think 3D, perceive

within the modules

internal & external imagery,

create, transform & modify images,

produce & decode graphic info

MMA

ACTIVATES

ENHANCES

FACILITATES

REPRESENTS

NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL LEVEL

BIOLOGICAL

1–7 represented biologically as

REPRESENTATION

modular colums of neuronal cells

ascending from the cortex to the

subcortex to the limbic system across

the left and right hemispheres

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CONSCIOUS

CONSCIOUS

COGNITIVE LEVEL

SYMBOLIC LEVEL

10% of Learning

MMA

MMA

“THINKING”

Thinking about

thinking

METACOGNITIVE DOMAIN

Operationalizes

metacognition

“EXPRESSION”

DYNAMIC SELF-REGULATION

Monitored by

MMA

Point at which dynamic + active

DECLARATIVE

PROCEDURAL

self-regulation meet

KNOWLEDGE

KNOWLEDGE

“WHAT”

“HOW”

ORCHESTRATED

ORAL

BY ACTIVE

EXPRESSION

CONDITIONAL

+

INTERACT

KNOWLEDGE

“WHEN”

DYNAMIC

“WHY”

SELF-REGULATION

MMA

MMA

RECEPTION

INTERACTION

MMA

MMA

MMA

MMA

MMA

ORCHESTRATED

COGNITIVE

COGNITIVE

COGNITIVE

COGNITIVE

COGNITIVE

BY DYNAMIC

PROCESS

DOMAIN

REQUIREMENTS

FUNCTION (CF)

ACTION (CA)

SELF-REGULATION

OUTPUT

= METACOGNITIVE

ATTENTION

C

F

CF1

CA1

ACTION

LISTENING

(ALLOCATION &

CF2

CA2

DELEGATION)

U

CF3

CA3

MMA

C

F

MMA

CF1

CA1

PERCEPTION

SPEAKING

CF2

CA2

U

CF3

CA3

DECODING

WRITTEN

C

F

CF1

(ANALYSIS)

READING

EXPRESSION

CF2

U

CF3

PROBLEM-

C

F

SOLVING

WRITING

MMA

U

ORGANIZING

(CATEGORIZING &

READING

ASSOCIATING)

reasoning – deductive

(C) CONTENT = something to

=

+ inductive

communicate

SYNTHESIZING

inference

(F) FORM

= structure for

(ENCODING)

judgment

the communication

cause and effect

(U) USE

= a communicative

MEMORY

intent

METACOGNITIVE DOMAIN

1. Represented biologically as the distributed

parallel activation of dendritic inter-connections

COGNITIVE LEVEL

Parallel activation of the

and synapses across both hemispheres

represented biologically

modules involved across both

2. Pattern detection–calling up of existing

as localized activation in

hemispheres because the

descriptive systems to facilitate reconceptual-

either left or right neural

symbolic expression is the

ization of knowledge

connections

result of syngeristic action

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HOW TO SWITCH ON YOUR BRAIN

serving as the contact between the external world and the

internal world of your mind. Therefore, this model works in

reverse as well, forming a perfect circle. So information comes

through the five senses, is received consciously by the conscious

cognitive level, and then passes into the nonconscious meta-

cognitive level where—if you have paid attention and started

thinking and choosing—it becomes a physical thought as a

result of genetic expression (the making of proteins). This

newly built physical thought will, in turn, impact your con-

scious cognitive and symbolic levels—and so the cycle goes on.

21-Day Brain Detox Plan

Whatever you think about the most will grow, so the more

the cycle moves with a particular thought, the stronger it

grows. This is in essence the Quantum Zeno Effect (QZE)

taking place that I explained in chapter 7. It takes around

twenty-one days of this cycling for all the necessary protein

changes3 to happen to create a long-term integrated memory.

This is why my brain detox plan is for twenty-one days.

You can’t just apply a thought once and think change has

happened. It takes repeated work for the QZE to take effect.

Each day something is happening to the thought in your non-

conscious mind. So if you stop at day 4 or 5, which is often

when people do give up, then the consequence will be that

the memory denatures—which means it dies and becomes

heat energy. Simply put, you forget.

You Feel the Pull

It’s important to note that we feel the pull of the sensory in-

formation coming in through the symbolic level, but we don’t

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The Science of Thought

have to go there. These are the events and circumstances from

the outside world. The events and circumstances from the

outside world also enter into our minds and brains through

electromagnetic and the quantum worlds (chap. 7). Remem-

ber, we cannot control the events and circumstances of our

lives, but we
can control our reactions
. Don’t be reactive;

take time to slow down and think (see chaps. 4, 5, and 6).

Our five senses activate an emotional response almost im-

mediately, but if we don’t take the time to process them, the

unprocessed emotion will dominate. This is why all the keys

I am describing in part 1 of this book are so important; they

help you deal with this pull.

Satan tries to take advantage of the pull of the five senses

through this symbolic level, and he would love it if you re-

spond impulsively to them. But you are made in God’s image

with the mind of Christ, and Jesus told his disciples that all

power had been given to him (Matt. 28:18). If all power was

given to Jesus, how much power does Satan have? None. When

you truly let that sink in, you will realize that you control

your reactions, your thinking, and your choices.

What Lies Are You Believing?

It’s through the senses that we receive Satan’s lies, but—and

this is important—we don’t have to believe those lies. If we do

believe them, we process them into physical realities (through

the conscious cognitive to the nonconscious metacognitive)

that form the substance of the nerve networks upon which we

act. This means that if we listen to and believe the Enemy’s

lies, we actually choose to process them into physical realities

inside our brains. In doing so, we create the evil and act upon

it. But we do not have to believe Satan’s lies. We as humans

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HOW TO SWITCH ON YOUR BRAIN

create evil when we collapse these probabilities into actuali-

ties (chap. 7). So evil does not come from God, obviously,

yet people often say that if God created everything, then he

created evil as well. God has given us the power to create: this

creative force can become good or evil through our choices.

Current neuroscientific and quantum physics research

confirms that our thoughts change our brains daily. In fact,

neurological literature has coined the term “self-directed neu-

roplasticity” as a general description of the principle that

deep thinking changes brain structure and function.4 This

plastic ability of the brain to change in a positive or negative

direction depending on our state of mind is called the
plastic

paradox
. Positive plasticity produces positive behavior, and

negative plasticity produces negative behaviors.

Distorted Love and Truth Get Wired In

When we distort love and truth, we wire this perversion into

our brains and, in a sense, create brain damage. This is not

an exaggeration, because our brains are wired for love, not