Your brain has 100 billion nerve cells, neurons. These neurons have branching axons and dozens and even hundreds of dendrites that allow them to interact with each other by releasing various neurotransmitters in the synapse where one neuron chemically communicates with another. Neurons in the brain have on average 1000 synapses. These neurons in your brain get input from our 5 senses, from what you see, hear, taste, touch and smell. Input from these 5 senses are sent via neurons and synaptic connections to get neurologically processed in your brain. With the increase in axon and dendrite terminals from branching and 1000 synaptic connections per neuron there are approximately 100 trillion synaptic connections in your brain. These 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion synaptic connections then create the perception of your immediate surroundings, your consciousness. Another layer of processing on top of your immediate consciousness are those 100 billion neurons processing all the selected information and input you’ve received over your lifetime, your subconscious, to which your brain refers when consciously analyzing, categorizing, critically thinking, drawing conclusions, making daily decisions and choosing directions, from everything you’ve experienced and thought about in your life. That becomes your perception of reality, your neuroreality. So you can think of reality in 3 ways, reality as it really exists, reality as your brain and 100 billion neurons perceives it, and reality as everyone else perceives it. One could also say that in our country of 300 million people, there is reality as it really exists, reality as you perceive it, and 300 million minus 1 separate perceptions of reality. Your consciousness and perception of reality by the 100 billion neurons in your brain is your neuroreality, also called your subjective reality. Our hope is that synthisophy will bring our neurorealities closer to actual reality.

Chapter 6

Brain Function

For a more detailed explanation of the brain chemistry involved in generating your neuroreality, read the article entitled, The Biochemistry of Belief, a brief summary of which is below:

“Man is what he believes.” - Anton Chekhov

Beliefs are basically the guiding principles in life that provide direction and meaning in life. Beliefs are the preset, organized filters to our perceptions of the world (external and internal). Beliefs are like ‘Internal commands’ to the brain as to how to represent what is happening, when we congruently believe something to be true. In the absence of beliefs or inability to tap into them, people feel disempowered.

Beliefs originate from what we hear - and keep on hearing from others, ever since we were children (and even before that!). The sources of beliefs include environment, events, knowledge, past experiences, visualization etc. One of the biggest misconceptions people often harbor is that belief is a static, intellectual concept. Nothing can be farther from truth! Beliefs are a choice. We have the power to choose our beliefs. Our beliefs become our reality.

Beliefs are not just cold mental premises, but are ‘hot stuff’ intertwined with emotions (conscious or unconscious). Perhaps, that is why we feel threatened or react with sometimes uncalled for aggression, when we believe our beliefs are being challenged! Research findings have repeatedly pointed out that the emotional brain is no longer confined to the classical locales of the hippocampus, amygdala and hypothalamus. The sensory inputs we receive from the environment undergo a filtering process as they travel across one or more synapses, ultimately reaching the area of higher processing, like the frontal lobes. There, the sensory information enters our conscious awareness. What portion of this sensory information enters is determined by our beliefs. Fortunately for us, receptors on the cell membranes are flexible, which can alter in sensitivity and configuration. In other words, even when we feel stuck ‘emotionally’, there is always a biochemical potential for change and possible growth. When we choose to change our thoughts (bursts of neurochemicals!), we become open and receptive to other pieces of sensory information hitherto blocked by our beliefs! When we change our thinking, we change our beliefs. When we change our beliefs, we change our behavior.

Everything exists as a ‘Matrix of pure possibilities’ akin to ‘formless’ molten wax or moldable soft clay. We shape them into anything we desire by choosing to do so, prompted, dictated (consciously or unconsciously) by our beliefs. The awareness that we are part of these ever-changing fields of energy that constantly interact with one another is what gives us the key to the hitherto elusive, to unlock the immense power within us. And it is our awareness of this awesome truth that changes everything. Then we transform ourselves from passive onlookers to powerful creators. Our beliefs provide the script to write or re-write the code of our reality.

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