Beyond Emotional Intelligence

Introduction: Out of Sight, Out of Mind

In the same way scientists discovered an entire ecosystem of microorganisms living within a single drop of water, we can each discover the universe of possibilities percolating within us, a dynamic display just ready to express itself in any number of ways and combinations. As Leonard Mlodinow writes in his book Elastic, the magnificence of the human brain lies in its ability for “bottom-up” or elastic thinking (Mlodinow, 2018). This is the kind of novel and creative thought process that has at its beck and call a seemingly infinite number of possible connections it can draw from, resulting in unique ideas and unexpected creations. The brain's capacity for free and nonlinear association is still more of a mystery than not and hasn't yet been successfully replicated outside of the stomping grounds of the human skull. In the same way the brain's capacity for elastic thinking has given rise to humanity's greatest inventions, our brain has the unique and unparalleled capacity to simulate its own reality, casting predictions that piece together the fundamental ingredients of perception itself. While we each have the experience of leading our lives out in the world, in fact we live our entire lives from the cockpit of our own minds.

Despite the fact that it seems we're strictly responding to stimuli on a reactive basis, contrary to how we experience our own perceptions and emotions, the brain is thought to proactively simulate its own version ...