God masterfully created our brains in such a way that enables us to make fast decisions in high-stakes situations. In many cases, we make decisions with very little active thought. This is very useful when imminent dangers present themselves. If a mountain lion wanders into the yard when I’m watching my kids, I automatically grab them and run into the house.
That’s a bad example because I’ve never done that, but I’m pretty sure I would!
But what if a neighboring prankster plants a stuffed yet lifelike mountain lion in my yard while I’m not looking and I react the same way when I see it? My children and I were never actually in any danger, but I reacted like we were. Did I make a mistake?
No.
My amygdala, the fight-or-flight control center of my brain, isn’t concerned about whether the danger is real or not. If the danger is real, then I have a chance to survive if I act fast. If the danger is a false alarm, I’m no better or worse off than I was before… give or take the adrenaline rush and the cardiac exertion. High stakes, high pressure. My brain did its job.
In our real world everyday existence, we face situations and decisions that do not present themselves as threats, but as opportunities. Our amygdalas don’t get involved in these cases. Instead, our prefrontal cortex – the part of our brain that is good at planning, regulating emotion, and controlling impulses – takes the reins to slow down and make the right and reasonable choice taking into account all of the facts of the situation.
And so we get to the crux of the problem I want to tackle in this article… there are life and legacy impacting decisions we face from time to time that we can and should slow down for and process with our prefrontal cortex, yet we irresponsibly outsource these decisions to our amygdala. When we do this, we make choices that are safe and comfortable in the short term because our amygdala is biased for survival… not long term thriving like our prefrontal cortex.
What is your default reaction when presented with a truth claim that is contrary to your deeply held beliefs? I can almost guarantee your automatic response is to dismiss it out of hand and quickly find a way to justify your deeply held beliefs. A challenge to deeply held beliefs feels threatening. It has the psychological effect of triggering the amygdala fight-or-flight response to the idea itself.
But what if the new idea is actually true? What if the current deeply held belief is actually false? Would you actually want to know the truth? I follow Jesus who says, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”
When I have my wits about me, I strive to engage my prefrontal cortex to submit my deeply held beliefs to testing. After all, the truth can stand up to scrutiny if it is indeed the truth. And if a truth claim turns out to supplant my falsely held deep belief, I do my best to accept the truth and deny what is false. This process usually requires a large combination of courage and humility – challenging character traits in and of themselves.
Here it is: the truth claims presented in the Infinite Banking Concept (IBC) have a tendency to challenge deeply held beliefs.
But IBC is not a mountain lion that wandered into your toddler’s play area. It is an old man and a staff offering golden nuggets of wisdom that can be received or refused.
The question is… which part of your brain is going to answer the question, “Is it the truth?” Your amygdala or your prefrontal cortex?
