The brain and nervous system form a mechanism that struggles to operate automatically in order to reach a preconceived goal in the same way that a torpedo corrects its path to achieve its target. The conclusion that the brain and the nervous system combine to form a servo-mechanism that we "use" and that operates as if it were a computer or a mechanical instrument oriented to the conquest of various objectives comes from the science of cybernetics. The word cybernetics comes from a Greek word that literally means "man-pilot." The servo-mechanisms are mounted in such a way that they automatically set the course towards the path that leads them to the goal, the target or the due response.
1. When the objective, the end or the answer are known and the objective is to achieve or satisfy them.
2. When the objective, the purpose or the answer are unknown and the objective is to discover or locate them.
Suppose a torpedo has been launched from a boat with the objective of hitting and destroying an enemy vessel. Such machines must "know" the target they are shooting for. They must have some sort of propulsion system which propels them forward in the general direction of the target. They must be equipped with "sense organs" (radar, sonar, heat perceptors, etc.) which bring information from the target. These "sense organs" keep the machine informed when it is on the correct course (positive feedback) and when it commits an error and gets off course (negative feedback). The machine does not react or respond to positive feedback. It is doing the correct thing already and "just keeps on doing what it is doing." There must be a corrective device, however, which will respond to negative feedback. When negative feedback informs the mechanism that it is "off the beam" too far to the right, the corrective mechanism automatically causes the rudder to move so that it will steer the machine back to the left. If it "overcorrects" and heads too far to the left, this mistake is made known through negative feedback, and the corrective device moves the rudder so it will steer the machine back to the right. The torpedo accomplishes its goal by going forward, making errors, and continually correcting them. By a series of zigzags it literally "gropes" its way to the goal.
Each thought is an order for our servo-mechanism and
the most common thoughts become goals to
reach. This mechanism is completely innocent and indifferent,
it does not recognize convenience, it does not recognize "bad goals." It just acts.
We should not be scared by making mistakes or experimenting
small failures. All servo-mechanisms reach their
goals by readjusting their direction thanks to negative feedback,
These feed-back retroactive processes are
precisely those small errors or failures and their function is to
inform us that we have gone off course.
The inconvenience arises when we try to force the mechanism to
work, it's VERY important to just let it go. We must
recognize that when we choose a goal we will have different
negative feedback moments, and we must understand its meaning; if
we abandon our goal for those moments of deviation we will spend our lives from goal to goal.
“A human being always acts, feels and performs in accordance
with what he imagines to be true about himself and his environment.”
Dr. Maxwell Maltz, Psycho - Cybernetics.
The nervous system and the brain are formed in such a way that
both can react automatically and appropriately to
the problems and changes that arise in the environment around them;
It is important that we understand, and it is not easy, that the brain and
the nervous system that REACT automatically to the environment
are the same brain and nervous system that tell us WHAT is the
environment. We act and feel not how things really are
but we do it according to the image of reality that we have created.
We all have mental images of ourselves, of our
world, of the people around us, and we behave as if
these images will constitute a unique truth, reality; but
we are not aware that the nervous system does not recognize difference
between a real experience and an imagined experience. In both
cases the nervous system reacts automatically to the information
provided by the forebrain. Imagination plays in
our lives a much bigger role than we can
think.
The nervous system reacts to what we think and
we imagine it's true
.