Psychological “Set-Up”  

Our response to every stimuli is very complex, involving many unconscious processes, which have become automatic responses. These are largely patterned responses - in many ways peculiar to us as individuals. The responses  tend to be automatic and typical to themselves - the result of an inner, unconscious disposition or set-up, which is the product of automatised, conditioned responses. Our inner set-up operates when we encounter any situation - entering a school, being confronted with an opportunity - consulting a physician- as examples.

Prevailing social norms, instilled in us by all our social institutions, including family and schools, are the main carriers and enforcers of the beliefs and responses, which contribute to the formation of our inner set-up. Genetic and other factors contribute as well. The power of the influence of our unconscious set-up is very great and any significant lasting change or overcoming of previous limits will necessarily involve a change in our unconscious patterns of response. This is why logical argumentation at the conscious level is often so useless - even when there is conscious agreement. This is why so many classroom experiences remain an intellectual exercise: words, rhetorical mastery, even brilliance are of little lasting effect if they only engage the conscious levels of the student’s mind. Only when a teacher or a doctor is able to penetrate the set-up, engage it in a way which allows it to be accepting and open to extensions and transformation does the real potential of a student/patient begin to open up.