Forming Strongholds: Facts

This month, we are covering a seemingly simple concept that has powerful, revelatory, and wide ranging applications: Right-Right vs Right-Wrong...Right WHAT-Right HOW/WHY vs. Right WHAT-Wrong (or NO) HOW/WHY.

The overview for the rest of this Series is that God wants our brain to have Profitable Thought Processes. The enemy and our flesh wants our brain to have Unprofitable Thought Processes.

This week, we will look at specifically how strongholds are formed. In the previous post, we covered one way strongholds are formed in the cortex:

One way for strongholds to be formed in the cortex is for Unprofitable emotions (fear and guilt) to be linked to connecting facts.

When ANY full thought that involves these connecting facts is sent to the amygdala, the Unprofitable emotion will upset the amygdala and cause the individual to be Unprofitable.

Again, a stronghold holds resources and ammunition for the enemy inside us that the enemy can encourage us to use to destroy ourselves.

Today, we will look at the other way strongholds are formed in the cortex...


FORMING STRONGHOLDS: FACTS
We saw The First Feedback Loop results in the creation of a full thought. A full thought consists of (at a minimum): stimulus, emotion, and connecting fact.

We saw The Second Feedback Loop begins with this full thought being sent to the amygdala. The individual's action is influenced by the cortex (logic) and amygdala (emotion). The body creates a chemical representing ALL of the information: the information from your external world (reality), your internal response (perception), and your external response (actions). This is then sent to the hippocampus in the form of a chemical...a physical molecule. This information is now in your short-term memory. This information is stored between 24 and 72 hours.

This feedback loop is completed when either:

1) the individual chooses to file ALL of this information into their cortex

OR

2) the individual allows the information to burn away as heat energy.

We reached the following conclusion:

The Second Feedback Loop results in the brain possessing accurate information.

This information is composed of facts (thoughts and actions) and emotions (feelings and attitudes about the actions).

A Profitable Thought Process would complete The Second Feedback Loop.

An Unprofitable Thought Process would fail to complete The Second Feedback Loop or complete it with inaccurate information...causing future First Feedback Loops to be Unprofitable.

In yesterday's post, we saw how a stronghold is formed in the cortex by filing away Unprofitable emotions into the cortex. The other way a stronghold is formed is by filing away Unprofitable facts into the cortex.

Remember, facts are filed away as WORDS. The key to detecting strongholds formed by Unprofitable facts is to be an expert at WORDS.

I have written A LOT about this, so I will give highlights and appropriate links for you to look into this more deeply...


1. Inaccurate Facts

If the information stored is inaccurate, then the effects will be contradictory and Unprofitable.

Contradiction PROVES something is NOT TRUTH.

Non-contradiction means something can be truth OR it can mean we haven't gotten enough of the right information.

The ONLY way non-contradiction can PROVE Truth is if ALL the possibilities have been identified and all but one has been PROVEN contradictory. This is the contrastive thinking process.

Importance of Words

Truth

Original Contrastive Thinking Post
Updated Contrastive Thinking Post

Original Non-Contradiction Post
Updated Non-Contradiction Post


2. Multiple definitions

The brain can get into an endless loop when it has two definitions for the same word. As the feedback loop is trying to be completed with the first definition of the word, the individual suddenly applies the second definition to the word and the brain goes into a separate feedback loop, only to apply the first definition of the word once it gets near the end of the separate feedback loop. (The "Updated Non-Cotnradiction Post" above explains this in detail.)

The key is to determine the non-contradictory definition of the word being used. I use a tool from S.I. Hayakawa called "The Ladder of Abstraction".

Non-contradiction ought to help identify this, however, some people actively look for a reason to live with a contradiction. For instance "post-moderns" do this when they state that they are absolutely sure that we can't know anything for sure. What is interesting is that even people who don't like "post-moderns" follow this same thought pattern indicative of a stronghold when they state being absolutely confident about something they ALSO want to say is not our fault if we don't understand it.

I have been accused by a lot of people who say they are absolutely confident I am wrong BECAUSE NO ONE can be sure about the concepts that I write about! How can they know for sure I'm wrong when they can't know for sure what is right?

Part One of a look at post-moderns and traditionalists
Part Two of a look at post-moderns and traditionalists

The Ladder of Abstraction
An illustration of how people speak about religious terms that they don't have a definition for...


3. Lumping

Multiple concepts can be treated like one concept. Consequently, all of the facts associated with all of these "lumped" concepts are causing the brain to be unfocused during The First Feedback Loop. We said the squirrel jumps from one branch to another only to find out he is at the same trunk.

Resolution is the solution to this problem...

Resolution


SUMMARY
The other way for strongholds to be formed in the cortex is for Unprofitable facts to be filed into the individual's brain.

The Unprofitable facts are made up of WORDS.

These strongholds are formed with inaccurate facts, multiple definitions, and lumping of concepts.

Ultimately, an individual's worldview is made up of WORDS. A contradictory worldview will have inaccurate facts, multiple definitions, and lumping of concepts. Notice, this is WHY discussion of a worldview is the MOST emotionally charged discussion you can have. When a person realizes their worldview is flawed, the associated stronghold causes the amygdala to fire and people begin acting Unprofitable.

Again, a stronghold holds resources and ammunition for the enemy inside us that the enemy can encourage us to use to destroy ourselves.

We have seen three ways that strongholds are FORMED: experience (amygdala), emotions (cortex), and facts (cortex).

Tomorrow, we will begin looking at practical examples of how strongholds work...

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