Mind over Matter, Vice, and Psychic Happiness

Everybody has vices. We elevate some things to the level of "need," and we habitually try to satisfy these needs. In the process, we wreak havoc on both mind and body. The goal of body then overshadows the goal of mind – instinctual drives rule the day and we become slaves to the body.

Fortunately, being human – exercising free thought, free will, and self-awareness – allows us to control our biology. In other words, because we can train our mind to influence the body, biology changes from a prison to a paradise. Of course, we cannot change fundamental biological characteristics; like eye-color, arm length, or height via the mind...however, we have the option to stifle hunger, anxiety, sexual urge, and aggressiveness. This argument counters the notion that biology is destiny, and asserts that real destiny lies in the power of mind.

Several arguments exist that extol these mental powers. I will look at two interrelated and important ones here.

The most fascinating and little understood aspect of psychology regards the placebo effect. The placebo effect says that our expectations of something, perhaps a water pill posing as a painkiller, will invoke headache-reducing effects, although in reality we did not ingest something that will remedy the headache. This means that because we believed that we took a painkiller it caused our headache to subside. How does this work? Ultimately, the brain is responsible for the cause of placebo effects. However, mental and cognitive processes set the brain in motion – and brain scans light up in response to placebos.

The technical issue involves the mind body-problem, which asserts that we don't understand precisely how the mind and body interact...or even if there's a problem. Without going into detail, we do not know why something that does not technically change brain chemistry has the power to heal. We do not know why placebos work. We only know that the brain responds to placebos as if it were working by activating the appropriate neurotransmitters and brain structures.

Indeed, there is a whole field dedicated to studying the mind's healing and immunological effects on the body – psychologists refer to the field as psychoneuroimmunology. This is just a big word that describes the science of exploring how mental process and brain functions work together to strengthen our immune system.

Earlier I mentioned vices. I mentioned how we become a victim of our own needs and wants, which inevitably turn into bad habits. Most people intuitively know that they can control their behavior. They know they can keep from picking up that beer or turning on the television, or lazing around or whatever…yet the theme of alcoholism and vice as disease continuously crops up in our culture. Disease implies a biological impediment, something that the person cannot help. I detest this notion because it disavows free will; it gives people an out by turning them into helpless victims. The truth that psychology brings to the table contradicts the disease model of alcoholism and vice.

If people have the power of tricking their brain into thinking they have taken a certain pill, they certainly have the power to choose to engage or disengage their vice. They say they cannot help it. They say they are powerless against it. These excuses denounce the power of mind and power of person. Similarly, I also believe that some illnesses spread and grow because of people’s thoughts and feelings. If people believe strongly a disease is killing them or afflicting them adversely, that mere thought may further empower a disease and give it strength.

There is a story of a man with multiple tumors dying in a hospital bed. One day he saw a commercial advertising a pill that alleged to cure cancer. He became excited and asked his doctor to try it. Amazingly, after the first regiment of pills the tumors started dissipating. Almost all of them shrunk in size, and some of them went completely away. After a few weeks, another commercial came on denying the legitimacy of the pills, calling them a sham. The man’s health started to decline after he learned of the fake pills. Suffice it to say, his cancer returned and he died shortly thereafter.

A psychological fact is that happier people tend to have less physical illnesses. They also tend to have lower blood pressure, and lower chances of heart failure. The problem is that happiness in our society is difficult to cultivate. If we learned to focus our minds, inevitably we would learn to control our behavior. The paradox by which we have placed ourselves under revolves around removing bad thoughts by indulging in harmful behavior. However, the harmful behavior does nothing but breed negative thoughts and vice, creating a feedback loop of pain. The only place we will find freedom is in taming the mind by directing the body.

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Sterlin Luxan is a visionary thinker, cryptocurrency junkie, connoisseur of psychology, an MDMA high priest, and the Mr. Rogers of Anarchism. He is the Communications Ambassador for bitcoin.com, runs a consultancy business in the crypto space, and is a public speaker. He created the doctrine of relational anarchism and contributes to many causes in the thriving liberty ecosystem.