Man vs Mind: What Actually Drives Us?

The man who invented the diesel engine committed suicide in 1931 because he thought (I emphasize the word thought) that his invention would turn out to be a failure. What do you guys think was the problem here, was the incident driven by external influences, or was it something else?

Many of us have heard different types of Hindi catchy songs like "Goriya churana mera Jiya", which roughly translates to –“Oh, fairy skinned, please don’t steal, my heart." So, if you pay attention carefully, suddenly you will realize the song we loved before is a complete source of embarrassment and guilt for the tanned skin people like me. Again, who set the bar of this beauty standard?

Once I was gifted a beautiful bouquet of roses by one of my relatives. I am generally allergic to the smell of this flower. On seeing the flower, I started to sneeze rapidly. A little while I called her and requested, ‘’Could you please remove the flower because I am allergic to it. ‘’She replied, ’Okay, but what I am having here is a plastic flower.’’

Analyzing these three different incidents, one thing is for sure that it's all about our mind. In the first case, the problem is in our very own selves of us. If we cannot fight with our own thoughts, we will be stuck in the prison of our minds. In the second scenario, our mind is diverted by others' perspective of beauty. using various filters and photo editing apps in social media, we are blurring the line between reality and fantasy that causes disappointment, depression, and anxiety. Finally, in the last incident, it is clear, what our mind whispers that our body works.

Image from the internet

Generally speaking, there are two types of effects in medicine. One of them is the placebo effect and the other is the nocebo effect. The placebo effect is the one in which the mind causes positivity. Let us assume, that you are a patient seeking treatment for your fever, and I am your doctor. Instead of injecting a proper drug into your body. I am injecting distilled water, but I make you believe that it is the appropriate drug. And your mind believes the doctor and your body starts reacting according to the belief of your mind and you will be healing in no time. This effect is known as the placebo effect.

The inverse of placebo is nocebo. Here the person builds a negative mentality, one of the burning Issues among today’s young stars is dissatisfaction with complexion.

What is the seller of the dangerous whitening cream is doing? Is he coming to your home? Knocking at the door?? Handing the product to you and forcing you to use it?? No… he is just triggering the mind of the depressed who are concerned about dark skin tone. It leads to the topmost illness, that is skin cancer, death, and so on. 

Just think for a while…what our mind can do???

About the author:

Bashirunnisa Ananya is a 3rd-year leather product engineering student at the University of Dhaka. She has varied interests in arts, literature, and debate. Apart from her active engagement in debating and career club, she likes to draw, sing and get involved in various extracurricular activities.