Note: This is the third time that we’ve listened in on a conversation between Ted and Jed. The first time they were discussing not making it “big” in the Bluegrass World as well-known musicians, and being okay with that. The second time they were discussing voting in the last election for the CBA Board of Directors. Ted plays guitar, Jed plays mandolin, and even though they haven’t known each other a long time they often jam together. Ted is well educated. Jed, well, nobody (including Ted) knows about his education. He sports an aura of the Ozark backwoods, coupled with some eccentric insight into a number of different topics. There is an unsubstantiated rumor going around that Jed is a licensed Certified Public Observer. Ted lives in a condo, Jed in a log cabin. Ted and Jed’s first and second conversations can be found in the CBA’s Welcome Column Archives.
Ted: Hey Jed, what ya got there?
Jed: It’s a book.
Ted: I know it’s a book. I didn’t know that you can read. Probably because this is the first time I’ve ever seen you with a book. What’s it about?
Jed: Right Ted, well there’s a lot about me that you don’t know. Anyhow, it’s a book about the brain.
Ted: What brain?
Jed: My brain. Your brain. Everybody’s brain.
Ted: So it’s a “brainer,” as opposed to a “no-brainer?”
Jed: Yep, you got that right Ted.
Ted: Okay, so a book about the brain. Anybody can write a book about anything, so anybody can write a book about the brain. What’s so interesting about this book Jed?
Jed: Well, this one is written by a well-known professor who works at a well-known big-time university. Not only that, this guy has received a Nobel Prize in medicine, psychology, human behavior, and all that kind of stuff.
Ted: Okay, okay, I get it. So tell me a little about what you’ve read so far. But can you please boil it down and make it easy to understand?
Jed: Will do Ted. At least I’ll try. You know that I’m not a complicated person, and I’ll try to make it as simple as possible and not bog you down in details. I don’t even like details. That’s probably because it’s a complicated world these days, and getting more complicated every minute. Just listen to the news, well no, don’t do that if you want to keep your sanity.
Ted: You got that right Jed.
Jed: Okay Ted, here goes. In the book there is a prominent psychologist who believes that there is an “adaptive consciousness” in the brain. Think about it as the unconscious part of the brain. It analyzes information around us without a person being aware of it in his or her conscious mind. And then it teams up with the consciousness mind to cause us to make decisions one way or the other. So the take-away is that the unconscious plays a big part in the hundreds, maybe thousands of decisions that we make every day. So both the unconscious and conscious parts of our mind have an important role in our decisions. Many people believe in the unconscious, and most likely that are a lot of folks who don’t. Of course it’s that way with most things.
Ted: You don’t have to convince me about the unconscious Jed. One time my 6th wife took a giant frying pan and, well never mind, that’s another story. But are you saying that the unconscious has a big part in determining stuff like whether or not to go to a bluegrass festival? Or whether or not to change strings on a musical instrument? I hate changing strings. I’ve got a decent education, but I’ve never heard about this unconscious and conscious stuff both playing a role in how we decide to do something or not.
Jed: Maybe you haven’t heard about this before Ted because you kept falling asleep in that, “New Horizons in Your Brain,” class that we both took last month in Adult Education School. They discussed this concept, and this book reinforces it. But anyhow Ted, yes, decisions like that. Big, small, and in the middle decisions that we all make all the time.
Ted: Could be Jed. I’m going to go someplace with the information you’ve given me and drink it over. In the meantime Jed, what’s the fuss about knowing this stuff about the unconscious and conscious mind involving our decisions and their consequences?
Jed: Well Ted, tomorrow I’m going to go out and by me another guitar.
Ted: Another guitar? You know what your wife said she would do if you bought another guitar. You do remember don’t you?
Jed: Yes I do Ted. But I’m going to use the information in this book to pave the way to a no-conflict-with-the-wife-because-I-bought-another-guitar happiness.
Ted: Oh come on Jed. How in the world are you going to do that?
Jed: I’m just going to bring the new guitar into the house, show it to my wife, and say, “Honey, look what my unconscious made me do!”
