The Trap

 

Our everyday activities are controlled and influenced by many outside factors, but I’m not talking about those. I want to focus purely on the internal—where reality influences our thoughts, dividing them into two categories: Sense Organ Thoughts and Brain Thoughts.

1. Sense Organ Thoughts

These are always searching for ways to satisfy sensory needs. We can further classify these into two types:

Fulfillment Needs: These are basic requirements. For example, if you are hungry, you simply need to eat. It could be curd rice or biryani; the goal is just to satisfy the hunger.

Extending Needs: This happens when a need becomes specific and demanding. Instead of just “food,” it becomes a craving for a specific taste or an excessive amount.

2. Brain Thoughts

Brain thoughts are highly productive and full of potential. However, the brain easily becomes a “servant” to the senses. When the sensory organs demand something, the brain engages and begins “extending” those thoughts—planning and obsessing over how to get more sensory pleasure.

The Slave vs. The Master: When the brain is a slave to the “extending needs” of the senses, we call it over-indulgence. But when the brain operates independently of those senses, we call it flow, creativity, or discipline.

Why “Extending Needs” are the Trap

Insight into “Extending Needs” is particularly sharp. When the brain serves the senses, it uses its massive computing power to optimize indulgence. Instead of just eating (Fulfillment), the brain spends hours scrolling through food apps (Extending). This is a “hijacked brain.” It’s like using a supercomputer to play tic-tac-toe; it’s a waste of processing power that leads to the “over-indulgence” you described.

The “Opposite” Potential

What if it worked the other way around? What if the Brain initiates the thought, and the Senses simply follow its lead? When the senses engage with the brain’s higher vision rather than the brain chasing the senses’ whims—that is the true, pure potential of a human being.

The Brain-Led Life: Flipping the Script

When the brain initiates the thought, the senses are recruited to help manifest it. This is the hallmark of Visionaries, Athletes, and Artists.

1. Intentional Engagement

In  “Sense Organ” model, the stomach feels hungry and the brain starts obsessing over Biryani. In the “Brain-Led” model:

The Brain: Decides “I want to run a marathon” or “I want to write a book.”

The Senses: Instead of looking for immediate pleasure, the senses focus on the task. The eyes focus on the page; the body ignores the “fulfillment need” for rest to achieve the “brain thought” of progress.

2. The Feedback Loop of Potential

When the brain gives the thought and the senses engage with it, you enter a state of Active Presence.

Sensory thoughts are reactive (responding to the world).

Brain thoughts are proactive (creating the world).

Why it is “Pure Potential”

This is “pure potential” because it breaks the biological loop. Animals are almost entirely driven by sensory thoughts (hunger, fear, comfort). Humans are the only species that can say, “I am hungry, but I will not eat yet because I am focused on this discovery.” That gap—the space where the brain chooses the path regardless of what the senses feel—is where all human achievement lives.

Author Note: Self-Transcendence. It is the moment the brain stops asking the senses “What do you want?” and starts telling the senses “This is what we are going to do.”