Wisdom Notes on Psychology

Changing Attitudes

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Within the process of personal growth there are three main levels of change, three levels with different intensities to the process of change. These psychological levels are those of beliefs, of attitudes, and of character traits /motivation. My analysis has these three levels since I compare them with my three-fold analysis of consciousness into will power, mind, and feeling [¹] . That is, each factor of consciousness corresponds to a level of change.

I take these three levels of personal growth to correspond with three levels of significant political change. For example, the difficulty of changing one’s beliefs can be compared to the difficulty of changing the political rules that govern society.

Three Levels of Change

Change is a relation between what came prior to the change (the old) and what came after it (the new); or it can be the other way around. The difference in the levels reflects whether the new comes before the old or after it, or is contemporaneous with it. I start with the mildest level of change, that of beliefs.

• Changing Beliefs

This process is complementary to Political Reform. In reform, the new idea usually comes prior to the change. The new idea either comes ready-made or is fairly easy to formulate. When the new idea is accepted, then the old idea, now redundant, gradually fades into disuse.

This form of change is comparatively mild and moderate. It focuses on changing beliefs and so centres on the mind. Though it is mild, it is not easy, whether a person is changing some of his /her beliefs or whether society is changing some of its beliefs. The type of therapy that is most useful is counselling, since the beliefs that need to change are fairly easy to pinpoint and work with.

Since this form of change is mild, so neither the person nor society experiences much depth of psychological pain and sorrow during the course of change.

• Changing Attitudes

This process is complementary to Political Rebellion. In this form of change, the new ideas are often confused and need extensive work done on them in order to clarify them. Usually the problem that worries the person cannot easily be defined – in many cases he/she may not be able to define it at all. All that the person is aware of is that something is unsettling him and cannot be dismissed or brushed aside. His feelings and emotions about the problem will not go away. The problem has to be brought out of the subconscious mind and into the open. The final act of clarification and the solution often occur simultaneously – then the person experiences catharsis. So the old and the new can occur together.

This form of change is a major one, and quite difficult to undergo. It centres on the emotional aspect of consciousness. It reflects the attainment of awareness, since awareness is required in order to bring feelings and emotions into normal consciousness (instead of being repressed and denied); this is the way to begin clarifying the problems. The only type of therapy that is of much use is dynamic psycho-therapy, preferably a psycho-analysis. Society undergoes this process when social change is rapid, though little awareness is gained. When social awareness of underlying problems is most acute, then social or political rebellion may occur.

Since this form of change is a major one, so both the individual and society will usually experience pain and sorrow that is deep and extensive.

• Changing Traits and Motivation

This process is complementary to Political Revolution. Changing character traits and motivation is the most difficult form of change that can happen to a person. Here the issue with motivation is often that of its subconscious form. Motivation that is subconscious means that though it motivates the person, he is not aware of such motivation – the motivation is acting below the level of his awareness. Subconscious motivation usually has to change before the person is willing to change traits, or develop new ones.

For example, a person who is obsessed with power is unlikely to respect anyone who is weaker than him/her; in order to develop respect for other people, the obsession with power has to fade in importance first. In this example, the principle motivation has become the desire for power, and “respect” is the trait that is lacking.

Traits and subconscious motivation are the most important and powerful aspects of a person in terms of continuity of character. When we know what motivates us consciously then we can set about changing it if we so desire. However, subconscious motivation usually stays the same for most of our life; since we are not aware of it so we cannot usually set about changing it (unless we deepen our level of self-awareness).

I describe changing traits and motivation in more detail [²].

Changing Traits

The first two levels of change do not seriously affect ingrained traits. A person can change beliefs without the change having much effect on his/her traits. Changing attitudes has a bigger effect on shallow traits. But to change ingrained traits deliberately may be beyond an average person’s ability in a normal life – some degree of idealism is usually necessary for such change to occur.

The factors that make up traits are the person’s standards and his will power. The strength of a trait depends on the strength of the will that powers that particular trait. Some of the person’s standards are moderate or even shallow, and so the will power behind corresponding traits will be moderate or shallow as well. For standards that are very important to the person, the strength of the will that powers corresponding traits will be very high.

Consider the situation where a person has had to realise that some aspects of himself, in terms of his character and personality, are inadequate for his tasks in life. He decides, whether freely or reluctantly, to engage in ways of improving himself. He wants to replace inadequate aspects of himself with better ones. How will the process of change affect him?  Unfortunately he will encounter distress. A major factor to this distress is that he is not really aware of what needs to be changed – he lacks sufficient awareness to really pinpoint his difficulties. So he learns by trial and error.

When changing an important trait which has outlived its usefulness the psychological pain and sorrow that is experienced is severe. The distress arises because the idealist is forced to overcome some particular predicament – he is presented with the necessity to face up to and master some unpleasant social or cultural condition in his life. Over a period of time the person’s character limitations are gradually exposed; only when the limitations are fully identified and accepted (rather than being repressed) can new and better traits be established.

Sometimes we may desire to strengthen a trait that is not adequate enough. We may want to eliminate some form of weakness from our character. We may want to persevere with some plan of personal development despite all the difficulties and frustrations that we experience. For example, we may strive to present the image of being a strong and resolute person (if we consider that mental strength and resolution is a desirable trait). However, we may fail, and have to come to terms with our weakness.

Irrespective of whether a person is successfully changing a trait or failing to do so, the exposure to character limitation produces severe pain and sorrow, since the person’s standards seem to be at risk. Conflict is caused when our character no longer blends harmoniously with our self-image or our sense of identity. The pain is worse for the idealist, since his sensitivity is greater than that of the average person, and his standards are usually higher. The pain and sorrow come from working with the sense of personal weakness, from having to accept that our degree of will power was not adequate enough in the past, or is still not adequate enough in the present.

To find a better degree of psychological balance in a changing world, the socially-centred idealist needs to develop traits of individuality, and the individual idealist needs to develop traits of social concern. These goals may be easier for the socially-centred person than for the individual.

When the change in traits occurs in a person who focuses on being an individual, then in the abreactions which follow that change it feels as if the person has been punished. He wants to creep away into solitude, into his usual place of safety. The reason for this is that the hard outlines of his monadism, his unique individuality, have been softened and blurred. In a little way he has lost some of his distinctiveness from the rest of humanity.
Whereas, the socially-centred person has to learn that, in some ways, he is distinct from the rest of humanity.

The average, non-idealistic person is only likely to experience change in traits in situations of extreme stress, or even danger. This usually means having to experience personal crises, or being actively involved in wars and revolutions. The type of therapy to aim at is one of letting go of the old, and the acceptance of whatever will be. Hence the practices of compassion, forgiveness and acceptance should be high on the agenda.

Change in traits reflects the change in the manner in which a person uses his or her will power. The stronger the strength of will power that a person possesses, the greater will be the pain and sorrow experienced when change of important traits occurs.

Changing Subconscious Motivation

In general, trying to change subconscious motivation mirrors the difficulties of trying to eliminate traits which have outlived their usefulness. The main issue here for the idealist who is developing a moral or a spiritual or a New Age awareness is the issue of sensitivity. Such a person usually has a marked degree of sensitivity, and all too often this generates a powerful subconscious motivation of hatred: hatred towards the world (here pride in hate mode is dominant) and/or hatred towards oneself (here guilt in self-hate mode is dominant). The sensitive person retreats into the comforts of solitude, or even into the social solitude of monasticism.

The task here is to change the subconscious motivation, either into love or into detachment. It is so difficult to do this that a standard method of accomplishing it is a religious way, producing sudden and dramatic change by means of a “conversion” experience. Otherwise, it has to be done slowly and piecemeal, by changing traits, attitudes and beliefs one step at a time.

The only method that produces some success in changing subconscious motivation is that of engaging in a long psycho-analysis, together with a study program of investigating all forms of consciousness. This means that all forms of experience need to be explored: social, religious, political, mystical, sexual. This study program broadens the mind and allows the person to realise just how narrow and prejudiced some of his existing beliefs are.

For most people, the usual way to change subconscious motivation is during their childhood in their next incarnation on planet Earth, when their family and social conditions will be different.

Summary

I summarise these changes, along with their political parallels.

Change in Beliefs
Change is moderate. The new comes before the old is discarded. Mind is the focus of attention. In politics, this level produces political reform; old beliefs are rejected.

Change in Attitudes
Change is major. The new and the old may be simultaneously present. Feeling is the focus of attention. In politics, this level produces political rebellions. Old attitudes to dissolute or partisan government are rejected, though the form of government is retained.

Change in Traits and Motivation
Change is deep and extensive, and often occurs dramatically. The old has to be discarded before the new can arise. Will is the focus of attention. In politics, this level produces political revolutions. Old standards are no longer useful: they have become restrictive. So new standards, new freedoms, new forms of government are desired. Michael Bakunin, a nineteenth-century revolutionary, formulated his ideas under the theme of Destruction first, then Creation.[³]

Bakunin had a good insight into how some aspects of evolution worked. The themes of Destruction and Creation are not unique to politics or psychological change. They reflect spiritual change. In spiritual reality, when something has outlived its usefulness, and yet refuses to change, then it is destroyed. Destruction is the dark side of spirituality that is usually denied, with only the good, creative side of it being recognised.

The most spectacular examples of destruction in political history are the fates of great empires. The Minoan empire and the Roman empire were the greatest civilisations of their respective times, but at the end they had become fossilised and beyond change. So they were destroyed. The British empire did undergo change to some extent, and therefore Britain was not destroyed by the ending of its empire.

On a personal level, it seems to be a more stressful task to change with the times rather than to fight against change. It appears to be easier to stay as one is, and let the changing world go by. But from an evolutionary perspective, this attitude is likely to lead to some kind of psychological disaster or a regression into hard, right-wing beliefs.

[¹]. My analysis of consciousness is described in three articles on Emotion. See Home page. [1]

[²]. See the previous article Attitudes and Ego Responses for more description of traits. [2]

[³]. The life and ideas of Michael Bakunin are usually featured in books on 19th century anarchism. He was the major ideological opponent of Karl Marx. [3]

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