Your mind is not a machine! But the task of avoiding mental error may lead you into believing that you must learn to think like one — emotionless, unbiased, prioritized, comprehensive.

   Well, not quite. The missing ingredient is C-A-R-E. Some may say that mental error can be avoided entirely if we just CARED enough to work at avoiding it to begin with, and, certainly, there is nothing "mechanical" about caring. That's a bona fide human emotion (other creatures too, of course).

   It is human care that provides your necessary motivation for DOING. If you don't care about achieving some imagined goal, you won't consequently PERFORM to bring about that end. Care is an emotion to keep.

   Recognize that it is your emotional drives and personal store of memories that inherently shape your natural decision-making tendencies. You may be able to do a good job at recognizing and controlling your own emotions, but now you must learn to recognize the fundamental flaw behind assuming validity to all the conclusions suggested by your store of memories. And care, interestingly enough, is one emotion that actually improves with this simple realization! How? Well ...

   A. Initiating Care:  See also Mental Map: Caring.

   Recognize that, typically, all your memories were created when information reached you from external sources. Even information passed on to us verbally isn't readily recalled unless we can actually relate to some physical experience(s) suggested by the verbal information. Otherwise, the verbal information remains in our minds as some arcane or imaginary concept. (As a child , did someone tell you that still water "disappears” over time? Remember what happened when you actually observed a physical occurrence? It subsequently made more sense and became accepted as obvious fact.) Humans learn best with tangible experience.

   For this reason, caring for others falters when "the other" is a total stranger (not necessarily human) whose experiences we cannot relate with, because we aren't able to recall any similar memories that might spur the caring emotion to begin with. (The young artist finds greater support and enthusiasm from adults [or parents] who are themselves artists than from those who have never themselves pursued the inclination.) The only way that might happen is if we were to actively try to imagine possibilities that might initiate our motivation to care. So, try to imagine reasons to care,

• actually experienced by yourself or imaginary,
• however improbable you perceive each to be,

that would initiate your caring emotion. Don't depend on your memories to do that for you. You must learn to allow for every honest possibility before rejecting, despising or accusing, whether you have actually experienced those possibilities yourself or not. Furthermore, note that even if you DO HAVE similar prior experience, will the final outcome always turn out as your memories perhaps lead you into expecting?

   Caring for others also improves when we imagine ourselves in the place of others: Imagine your mind behind that other face. Have you ever paused to think what it's like to be a fish in a tank? a bird in a cage? a pet in a house? or an animal in a zoo? They are still conscious, emotion-feeling creatures, regardless of their inherent mental shortcomings. Learn not to confine your thinking to the superficial, external details: IMAGINE the emotions, feelings and fears within. (I'm a vegetarian: There is nothing wrong with consuming meat. What's wrong is how it is obtained: killing innocent life.)

   IMAGINE that it could happen (or could have happened) to you, or someone close to you. Recognize that those who are less privileged than yourself are likely bona fide victims of circumstances far, far beyond their individual control.

   Always treat others with respect and compassion: human and animal. (CAUTION: Instinctive behavior — click here for a word of warning.) What is best for YOU is NOT always what's best in general. (Adam Smith's [1723-1790] "invisible hand" is NOT generally applicable.)¹ Caring for everyone may be impractical physically, but never emotionally. Though you may not be able to DO everything in the way of helping and caring for others, you should always feel that propensity within you. And that emotion within you will always become apparent in the subsequent outcomes to the decisions you make.

   B. Allowing Perceptions to Shape Judgment

   Caring also falters when we allow our perceptions to dictate our actions exclusively, without allowing for possible exceptions to the perceived "rule-of-thumb." Perceiving another as "unqualified," for example, solely because of reasons A, B, C, ..., without allowing for possible exceptions, X, Y or Z, is nothing short of prejudicial and discriminatory thinking. As a professional, always must you be aware that your decisions may rest on perceptions that are either totally wrong or, otherwise, somehow incomplete or misleading. Imagine possibilities; allow for rare exceptions or special cases.

   You are by nature a gregarious creature: All your memories and emotions revolve around a tremendous store of beliefs inculcated over the years not only by your own personal experiences, but also by your parents, peers, family and neighbors, religious leaders and everyone else you may have been in contact with (entertainers, news broadcasters, reporters, and on and on). You tend to prefer avoiding those decisions that you perceive as potentially embarrassing or damaging to your own self-image. Always remember that wanting to win or maintain the respect or admiration of others must never divert your focus away from what is Caring, Cautious, Responsible and Righteous ... based on Fact, not on assumption, partiality or belief.

   Recognize that a response which society (or of those immediately around you) may deem as "appropriate” (or "inappropriate”) may not actually be so once all the surrounding circumstances are taken into consideration. Sometimes, the right decision is an unpopular one, and only in time shall you receive the deserved recognition for making that unpopular — but just — decision.

   CARE is the foundation upon which Righteousness and Justice sit. Recognize that aspiring to reach unbiased decisions may be a lofty goal worth striving for, but NEVER at the cost of CAUTION or COMPASSION for those whose lives are affected by those decisions. One's thinking MUST ALWAYS be biased toward considerations of Individual Rights (Human Rights and Animal Rights) or Rights of All Conscious Life (covering all beings capable of self-awareness). Anything less is nothing short of professional negligence. Apathy can hide behind a veil of "law;" apathy can hide behind a veil of "order." Sometimes laws require revision because of subtle possibilities that our legislators had overlooked. The bottom line is that if you aren't exerting the effort to try to find or imagine the most caring option for all those relying upon and placing their faith in your decision-making, in your mind you're putting sloth, convenience or loss avoidance or some other self-centered motive ahead of CARING.. You MUST become aware of your own inherent selfish instincts, mood and self-centered perspective so that you may appropriately override them all in the pertinent situations. All too often, individual decision-making revolves around,

"Me, me, me: What’ll happen to me?” or  "Us, us: What’s best for us?”

Aspire to always take a step back and recognize the BIG picture to make decisions that are RIGHT for everyone whose lives may be affected by your decisions. As a professional decision-maker, a leader whom everyone is looking to and relying upon for superior direction, you must replace these two self-centered mental programs above with something more along the lines of, "What’s best for YOU?” As an example, you must be willing to arrive at selfless, self-deprecating — even potentially self-inflicting — conclusions derived along the lines of, say,

"However disagreeable this... may be to Me,
it is far better than that... possibility facing You.”

Apathy gets us nowhere, while Protection and Prevention get us going in the Right directions. Remember your Primary Priority: Protect All Those Who May Become Affected By Your Decision-making. Protection from Potential Harm is your GREATEST RESPONSIBILITY.

   In the long run, NOTHING is of greater importance or attains higher priority than considerations of Individual Rights.^* Nothing, no issue of "fairness," no capital gain or loss, no argument — however popular, emotion-packed or powerfully advocated — can achieve greater significance or value than caring for and protecting the lives of all those who will subsequently become affected by your decisions.

   Yes, certainly there are those incidences where survival of an entire society (or an entire species) may demand "sacrifice of the individual," but in such cases we must always do our best at ascertaining that the situation indeed demands such an individual effort: Could not a group share the burden a bit better perhaps? Additionally must we always do our best at ascertaining that sufficient compensation is doled to those individuals who willingly assume (forced into assuming?) such sacrifice, provided of course that the necessary time and resources are available to do so. (Moreover, it has been argued, such "sufficiency” is not attained until the compensation-loss in question actually begins to be perceived as "a desirous tradeoff.”)

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   ^*Consider wartime or crime-fighting (or some rescue or medical operations). In these scenarios, short-term losses are sometimes sustained so as to achieve greater long-term gains.
   Similarly, consider employees who engage in dangerous or potentially risky activities for the sole sake of yielding some particular service or product. The long-term gain for society offsets the potential risks involved for the individual employees, but ALWAYS do we attempt to minimize (and sometimes actually eliminate) those risks with the appropriate training and equipment.
   So, though this statement may not apply generally to the short-term, in the long-term it will always hold true (assuming that things always work out the way we plan [uh-hum!]).

All opinions expressed in this web site, unless otherwise noted, are my own, Michael Gaspard. If you notice any errors or have any suggestions for improvement, please let me know by e-mailing webmaster@mdpme.com. Thank you!

This web page was last updated on Monday, April 12, 2004.
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