No matter how physically powerful, learned, socially superior or spiritually grounded we are, we will not be able to truly evolve if we remain obedient servants of our mind and ego. The mind is the master of our thoughts, emotions and desires and the ego is the master of vanity, convictions and various designations that we accept throughout our life. Only intelligence, armed with determination and knowledge, can overcome the unruliness of mind and ego.

The science that helps us put order in "our heads" and reasonably manage our lives is called psychology.

Complete psychology in eight stages

1. Sense perception

When the bodily senses come into contact with the objects of the senses, they send their perceptions to the factory of the mind for processing.

2. Thought

The first reaction of the mind is thought, which defines what the senses have perceived.

3. Emotion

Every thought causes a corresponding emotion, whether we like it or not. Since emotions do not leave anyone indifferent, they will naturally stimulate some kind of desire. If we like a certain emotion, we will want to get more of it, but if we don’t like it, we will want to avoid it in some way.

4. Desire

Desires have always been the main motive for all our actions but also the cause of the inevitable consequences to those actions.

5. Action

When the fruits of our deeds are ripe, they will be served to us in due time and we will have to eat them, regardless of their taste.

6. Experience

The taste that remains in our mouth and that we remember for a long time is called an experience.

7. Belief

Life experiences form conceptions or beliefs, and many different beliefs form our mentality.  If we want to implement any serious change in life, we must first decode our existing mental patterns (beliefs) and build new ones. Each next time we find ourselves in a situation we have experienced before, we will automatically refer to the previously formed belief without analyzing it deeply.

8. Mentality

The more we become slaves to our established thought patterns, the more difficult it is to change them as time goes by.

Understanding psychology is probably the most important thing for any human being. Although we have a tendency to see ourselves as special and psychologically inscrutable, luckily for us, that is not true. The human psyche functions according to almost identical patterns and it is up to us whether we want to be guided by the intellect or by the unarticulated, surrendering to the arbitrariness of the mind and ego. Of course, the choice will depend on the mentality we have developed by our free will, which can be changed by our own free will as well.

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their mentality cannot change anything. - George Bernard Shaw

Stress

One of the most typical questions of the modern sapiens is how to deal with inevitable emotional stress. Each of us has a sufficient number of realistically demanding things to deal with, so we would be greatly relieved if we could at least avoid the irrational ones which our mind serves up to us every day.

There is no amount of money that a man would not pay to know where his mind is shutting down. Since one doesn't know, one takes tranquilizers or goes to therapist to interpret his or her mind..

In ancient times, before these modern methods, people would turn to a priest when their mind began to harass them with uncontrollable thoughts and emotions, thinking that they were possessed by some demons.

Others would treat themselves with brandy and "open their soul" to the local bartender, while the nice ones would confess to their wives, lying in bed, not noticing that they had already fallen asleep a long time ago… One is ready to do anything, except to help oneself.

If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you’re needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person. - Seneca

Complexity of complexes

The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions. - Leonardo da Vinci

Prejudices about ourselves are the biggest conceptual mistake we can make. If we form a wrong opinion of ourselves, our attitude towards the outside world, including our interactions with other beings, will also be wrong.

This type of prejudice is based on how much we value our personality or the qualities we possess. We are mostly unrealistic in this regard, considering ourselves better or worse than what we really are.

Psychology defines such conceits about one's own character as low self-esteem and high self-esteem, or inferiority complex and superiority complex.

Useless intelligence

Intelligence is a naturally dynamic element and, as such, tends to be active. However, if we engage it in useless things, it’s as if we do not have it.

Even when we direct our intelligence in the right way and create something smart, if we don’t utilize it properly, our work is in vain.

What smarter can be invented than a smart phone? Yet, we can see for what smart phones are mostly used. Young people become experts in solving super-complex tasks from the virtual world, but in reality they would starve to death if their parents didn’t bring them food.

It seems that as phones get smarter, we're getting dumber. - Modern proverb

Ego-created beliefs

Many times we have witnessed someone's irritating stubbornness, especially in the form of "cemented" attitudes: "It’s my way or the highway". Opinions whose authorization rests more on the respected "I" than on knowledge and facts clearly indicate the dominance of the ego in the person's attitude. In addition to not being ready to appreciate or consider other opinions, such people also pride themselves on their stubbornness, mistaking it for strength of character.